That Which We Call Fate
by ElusiveSanity
Summary: Immediate sequel to my first story, "Irony, thy Name is Cameron" which took place post Born to Run. The Connors begin to prepare for Judgment day, while John continues to grow into the future leader he's destined to become. Yes, lots of Jameron too.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER**: I unfortunately don't own TSCC, nor do I own the characters. I'm definitely not making any money of them either. I'm just having a little fun with them for a while, and I'll put them back where I found them when I'm done, I promise. Please don't sue me. I'm just a poor college student saying NO to drugs and YES to Jameron.

And don't steal my plot. That's actually mine, and I'd like to keep it, thanks.

In the words of my fortune cookie: "Politeness costs nothing and gains everything." Yeah, we all TRIED politely asking Fox to keep TSCC, and we gained NOTHING. Stupid cookie.

Anyway… this story is post Born to Run. It's a SEQUEL to my first story: "Irony, Thy Name is Cameron". Seriously, don't try to read this without reading that one first. You will be a highly confused individual if you attempt to. If you continue to read this regardless of my fair warning, don't review or email me asking what's going on. I'll send my mail-order terminator after you.

**EDIT: Okay, at some point this website decided it wasn't going to allow asterisks to be used as scene breaks within chapters. I have not yet had the time to go through and edit in all the lines where my scene breaks are supposed to be, so I apologize that for now, everything seems to run together. **

* * *

That Which We Call Fate

ElusiveSanity

Late morning found James Ellison sitting on a park bench under the shade of a tree. He was attempting to look inconspicuous as he stretched his arms across the back of the bench and people-watched. A group of children were playing tag in the open space behind him, and a mother uselessly tried cleaning an errant child's dirty face with her thumb. A young couple walked hand-in-hand, seemingly oblivious to everything but each other. Ellison watched them from behind his glasses as they walked passed, talking furtively to each other; the young man evidently saying something funny which made his girlfriend laugh. He waited a few moments before getting up and following them.

* * *

*********************

"There's Mr. Ellison," Cameron whispered, gently squeezing John's hand to get his attention.

"Yeah, I noticed. Who does he think he is, James Bond? He could have at least worn a T-shirt or something."

Cameron giggled and lightly bumped John as they walked. They were both well aware of him standing up and following them.

"Don't turn around, I bet he's walking with his hands in his pockets and whistling."

Cameron, having confirmed John's assumption in the reflection of a car window let out a louder laugh this time. John began to hum the Mission Impossible theme song.

"That's the wrong movie, John."

"Yes, I know. But I like it better. Seems more appropriate."

Shaking her head, Cameron angled them towards the parking lot where they found their way back to the SUV… conveniently parked beside Ellison's vehicle… in a conveniently dark, shady corner of the lot. The side nobody ever parked on because the dumpster smelled so bad.

They climbed in and wound down the windows, waiting for Ellison to assume it safe from bird watchers to approach. Opening the back door to the SUV, Ellison nonchalantly climbed in the back seat behind John and Cameron.

"Whassup 007?"

Ellison gave John a barely tolerable look. "I'm fine thanks, how are you?"

"Never better. So what's the deal here?"

Ellison reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive. He handed it up to the front seat. "Everything's on that."

John glanced at Cameron. "You don't happen to have a go-go-gadget USB port anywhere on you do you?"

"Do I look like Inspector Gadget?"

"No… but actually, you do look like the hot chick on this weird space cowboy show I found on Hulu."

Cameron stared blankly at John, before turning to Ellison. "Is there anything else?"

Ellison was busy looking back and forth between the two up front_. Kids watch way too much TV._ Shaking his head, he pointed to the flash drive. "I guess _Agent 99_ here is the only one who can read it or something. Ms. Weaver said she'd know what to do after that. Oh…and this." He reached into his jacket inside pocket and pulled out a small box. "It's for Savannah, from Ms. Weaver. I guess it was in her, or rather, the real Catherine's jewelry box. She thought she'd like it. Said she remembered seeing it on Savannah in the future."

John took the box from him and gently opened it. Inside was a small gold locket. Carefully lifting it out of the box, he opened the charm to find a family photo of the real Mr. and Mrs. Weaver, and a younger Savannah. He smiled sadly and closed the locket with a soft click. "It's her birthday. We'll give it to her tonight."

Ellison nodded and opened the door. "Where do you want the furballs?"

**********************

* * *

John jumped over the last two basement steps and collapsed on the bed beside Cameron. He placed a furry grey kitten on her lap

"Dorothy missed you. She told me so."

Cameron didn't look away from the screen.

The cat meowed, and placed her front paws on Cameron's chest. Idly lifting her hand, Cameron stroked the kitten's soft fur without looking, scratching behind her left ear. Dorothy settled down in her lap, curling up into a little purring ball.

John glanced at the screen and made a face. Seemingly random code continuously scrolled across the screen. "What was so difficult about handing us an address on a post-it note?"

"The situation isn't that simple."

"No," John sighed exaggeratedly. "Nothing is ever simple. Even eating a bowl of cereal in the morning has to be complex."

"You're the one who can never decide between Froot Loops and Lucky Charms."

"That's because it's too complex a decision for that early in the morning. Do I want fruity or marshmallowy? Leftover aftertaste or soggy flavorless brown things? It's tough to decide."

"You seem to have a tough time deciding between strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream as well."

"Nooo… that's not a decision. It was Neapolitan. You're supposed to have all three."

"And a corner piece of cake with extra icing balloons."

"Exactly."

Cameron just shook her head.

John poked her in the side. "When's your birthday, anyway?"

Cameron glanced at him. "We've had this discussion before. You know I don't have one."

"Okay, fine, Miss Politically Correct… when's your _build_ day?"

"I don't actually know."

John thought for a moment.

"Okay, then what day did I reprogram you?"

"July 4th, 2027."

"Independence day? For real?"

"I managed to infiltrate your camp that day so easily because your soldiers were busy blowing things up in some sort of ridiculous celebration."

Huh. John scratched his chin. It wasn't actually that far away.

The scrolling had finally stopped, and Cameron removed the drive.

"So what's the verdict?"

Cameron was silent for a few moments as she shut down the computer. "She found Danny Dyson."

"She did?" John sat up. "What did she do?"

"Question him, of course." Cameron set the laptop on the floor beside the bed, and cuddled her kitten.

"Did she get any answers?"

"Yes. She got all of the answers."

John waited a moment for her to continue, but she didn't. "And… you're going to share these answers, aren't you?"

She was scratching the stretching kitten's belly. "Of course I am, John. Why wouldn't I?"

John just shook his head.

Cameron didn't elaborate. Instead, she kissed the kitten on top of its head (something she'd seen Savannah do), and stood up. "I'll tell you when I tell everyone else." She then carried the kitten upstairs without another word.

***********************************

* * *

John quietly pushed Savannah's door open and smiled.

Cameron was cuddled next to Savannah on her bed, reading along as Savannah read her a story. It was _The Adventures of Pinocchio_, the original, non-Disney-ized version.

Cameron glanced up at John, who held a finger to his lips and sat on the floor beside the bed to listen.

Pinocchio learned compassion and empathy. As a reward, the blue fairy turned him into a real boy.

John was reminded of what Cameron had said to him the other night. _"I want to be a real girl…but I don't have a fairy godmother."_ No, Cameron didn't have a blue fairy, fairy godmother, or any other kind of magical pixie. She'd be a puppet forever, just as he was stuck being the great savior of mankind.

John leaned against the bed and rested his chin on his arm. He watched Cameron's eyes follow the words in the book as Savannah spoke. There was a slight twitch at the corner of her lips, which told him she knew he was watching her.

Cameron made being John Connor worthwhile. He didn't need a blue fairy to turn him into a "normal" guy. In fact, if he did, he'd never have met Cameron. Nope, he'd probably just be dating a normal girl, having a normal relationship, going on normal dates, having normal conversations, and planning normal futures.

John thought about that, and mentally shrugged. Screw normal. He smiled as Cameron's eyes met his again.

Normal was definitely overrated.

John noticed it was quiet, and realized he was being stared at because the story was finished, and he was staring off into his own world dreaming about fairies.

He cleared his throat and moved to sit at the edge of the bed. "Hey squirt, we have one last birthday present for you."

Savannah grinned and carelessly tossed the book onto the floor before crawling over to where John sat.

John reached into his pocket and pulled out the small box. "It's a birthday gift from… your mom."

Savannah looked up in surprise, and took the box. She gently opened it up and recognized the contents immediately.

"It's mommy's locket! She used to wear this all the time."

She opened the charm and looked at the picture inside it. Tears started streaming down her cheeks.

John wiped them away with his fingers and pulled her into a hug.

"Why did mommy leave me?" She managed to choke out through sobs.

"Shhh…." John gently rocked her back and forth. He didn't know what to say to her. There was no decent lie that would have made sense. He glanced at Cameron.

"Maybe we should have my mom talk to her," he mumbled.

"No."

John was a little surprised at her defiance. "Why not?"

"You can do it yourself, John. You need to do it."

John looked down at the girl in his arms. She was right. Sarah wouldn't be around to pull him out of sticky situations forever. He'd have to learn how to deal with things on his own. He might as well start with an 8 year old girl.

And this 8 year old would have to learn some day. It might as well be today.

"Savannah… I need you to listen to me carefully…"

*********************

* * *

"YOU TOLD HER?" Sarah was on the verge of a classic freak-out. She was leaning over the kitchen table, gripping the back of a chair so hard her knuckles were white.

"Mom, there really wasn't anything else I could do. She's older than I was when you told me. She already knew about Cameron and John Henry. I just… elaborated a little more." John was standing in the doorway, prepared to run for it if necessary. Cameron was quite conspicuously standing between him and his mother, having detected dangerous levels of adrenaline flowing through Sarah.

"What do you mean she knew about them?"

John rolled his eyes. "She's smarter than we give her credit for. Apparently having a best buddy with a cord sticking out the back of his head and red glowing eyes kinda clued her in. And evidently Cam's been slacking on her infiltration skills, cause she definitely put 2 and 2 together and figured her out as well."

"We swore the girl had a sixth sense," Derek said from behind John. "She'd know metal from a mile away. Guess that happens when you grow up with metal moms."

Sarah looked up. "Does she know about Catherine?"

"No." John shook his head. "At least, in the future, she didn't figure it out until she was older… "

Sarah sighed and sat down in the chair, resting her elbows on the table.

"John made the right decision. She had to find out eventually. It was better to do it while she was young."

Everyone looked at Cameron, who was intently staring at Sarah.

Sarah did agree with her. It was more that she was upset that she wasn't included in the decision. Just like the damn cats… Sure, it was a really sweet idea, and Savannah had never looked happier… but it'd been nice if someone had at least ASKED her. Not that she'd have disagreed, but… ugh. And now this… not even a "hey mom, what do you think?"

Derek, having a feeling he knew what was really going on with the Queen Mother, decided to change the subject. "So what did this Ellison guy bring to the table?"

***********

* * *

"So basically…" John scratched his head. "According to Danny… a bunch of Grays, aka Kaliba, were sent back by Skynet to kidnap Danny who happened to be studying his father's research. Danny helped them build John Henry's "brother", which is essentially Skynet in its infancy. He realized his mistake… so he says… and tried to run, so they sent a terminator after him. We destroy said terminator. Catherine finds Danny under a random bridge somewhere, and proceeds to pull information from him in probably not so pleasant ways."

"Yes, basically." Cameron agreed.

John chewed his lip. "So where is he now?"

"In Catherine's custody. Waiting for your decision."

"What?" Sarah, who'd been silent from the start, finally looked up from her hands.

"John is the General in command. This is also his decision to make," Cameron stated bluntly.

Sarah stood up and pointed to John. "He's not yet leading an army. And since when does Catherine take orders from my son?"

"Since always." Derek moved to stand behind his nephew. "He commands the whole lot of them. They choose to follow him."

Sarah stared at Derek, mouth agape.

"And John has more resistance soldiers here than you know. I'm only one of them."

Derek stared at Sarah defiantly. He hadn't been around very long, but from what he'd seen… well, it was about damn time the woman started letting the boy take control. He wasn't fully ready yet, but he would be in time.

John just stared at Cameron. _She did this shit on purpose_. He should have known something was up when she didn't agree to Sarah doing the sensitive 'mom' chat.

Everyone was staring at him, and he felt the weight of the decision on his shoulders. It looked like he wasn't going to get a day or two to decide; this was going to have to be a here and now kind of deal. He scratched his head and considered the situation.

It didn't quite add up. Why was he studying is father's research, and how did he even get it? It was destroyed when they blew Cyberdyne to pieces, wasn't it? Miles must have had personal notes and journals at home, or somewhere else. And how did he manage to run? If he was able to run after he helped create the AI, he could have run before he helped Kaliba.

John stood up and began to pace.

How did Skynet know to even go after him in the first place? Was it just taking a chance that Miles Dyson's son just happened to take an interest in his father's work, or did it already happen in the future?

Staring out the kitchen window, John knew he didn't know enough to decide.

Sighing, he turned around and walked over to the counter. He grabbed the car keys and stuffed them in his pocket. Opening a cabinet, he pulled out a gun and checked the clip before shoving it in his waistband. He looked at Cameron who'd been watching him quietly.

"You know where to find them." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

Cameron obeyed without question. She checked her own gun and followed John out the door.

* * *

**********************

Two hours later they pulled up to a tiny house that didn't look like it had more than 1 bedroom. Of course, nobody in the house except the current captive slept anyway.

John grabbed Cameron's hand as she opened the car door.

"I need to ask you something." He looked at her solemnly. "In your professional, second in command opinion…" He didn't need to finish his thought.

"I can't tell you that John. All I'll say is that so far, you've made the right decisions." With that, she stepped out of the SUV and shut the door.

John followed her up the porch steps, and almost jumped when the front door opened before they could even knock. A little old lady stood in the doorway, gray hair pulled up in a bun, and a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She greeted them as if they were her own grandchildren.

"Oh, so delightful to see you!" She pulled them each into a hug. John was a bit freaked out by her behavior, and gave Cameron a 'who the hell is this and where have you brought me' look over the old woman's shoulder. Cameron ignored him, and followed the old woman into the house.

John looked around. It seemed everything in the living room was antique, and had that odd smell that only old people's homes had. He turned to ask the woman her name in an effort to be somewhat polite, but the woman was no longer there. Instead, Catherine Weaver stood staring at them with odd curiosity. _Ah, that explains it. I don't want to know what happened to the little old lady…_

"Well, you two arrived a little sooner than expected."

"You were expecting us?" John was surprised. It wasn't like they'd called ahead and made reservations with her.

Catherine ignored him and decided to move it along. "You'll find him in the basement. I'll wait up here."

John was shocked there was even a basement in the house. He opened the door she pointed to and smelled the musty air. _Good God, I think I'd have killed myself already if I was stuck down here._ He started down the steps, Cameron at his heels.

* * *

******************

"Look who we have here. The famous John Connor and his cyborg whore. What a pleasant surprise."

John barely held back from slapping Danny. If it wasn't for Cameron's light touch on his back, he probably would have. Instead, he found an empty bucket and perched himself in front of him.

John studied Danny's face. He was a bit older than John now, and really looked like his father.

"For someone tied to a chair and held prisoner by the most deadly terminator, with a second pointing a gun at your head, you're pretty damn cocky."

"For someone so pathetic he has to resort to banging a machine, you're acting pretty badass yourself."

Surprisingly, John smiled. It was hard to do, and it wasn't a very pleasant smile, but he managed.

"Let's cut the bullshit and get right down to it. I have better things to do, and I imagine you do as well. We'll start with question one: What did Skynet and Kaliba want you for?"

Danny, not having many other options, went along with it. "I told the liqui-bitch already. I was studying my father's research. At least, what was left of it after your psycho-bitch mom killed my father and blew the company to pieces."

John decided not to make the correction, and moved on with the questioning. "Right. But how did they know you were studying it?"

Danny did his best to shrug with his hands tied behind the chair. "How the hell do I know? They just show up one day, kidnap me, and tell me I'm to help them build this super AI."

"And you did that, didn't you?"

"Yeah, didn't have much choice in the matter. It was do or die."

John cracked his knuckles. "So… you knowingly built a machine that would kill millions of people overnight, just to save your own sorry ass?"

"Go to hell, Connor." Danny spit at John.

"Been there, done that. So after you decide to build this thing, you what… had second thoughts? Felt guilty? You decided to run away like a little pansy, right?"

Danny glared at John, refusing to answer.

"Your mother would be so proud."

Danny attempted to jump up, but only managed to tumble his chair over. John glanced at Cameron and nodded, watching her easily lift him back up.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother."

"Tit for tat, bro…" John saw a line of blood dripping down the side of his face, and found oddly satisfied. "Are you aware you had a terminator tracking you?"

John could see the shock register on Danny's face, although he tried to hide it. "So? It would be expected. I ran away, right?"

Danny jumped as he felt fingers brush the back of his neck. Cameron did a quick scan and waited for the results to come up on her HUD. When they appeared, she glanced at John and shook her head.

John reached behind his back and pulled out his gun. He clicked the safety off and made a point of inspecting it.

"I don't know, my friend. I think it was quite unexpected, wasn't it?" John stood up and walked around Danny.

"I think they told you to run. Your job was to run home to mommy and get yourself caught by the Connor clan, wasn't it?"

Danny didn't respond.

"They assumed we were watching your mother like a hawk, waiting for you to return. Then we'd hunt you down and question the life out of you. Of course, we'd have just walked right into a trap, wouldn't we? So why didn't you just do what you were told like a good boy?"

"I'm not stupid. They'd have killed my mother."

John pulled out his clip, and slid it back in for no apparent reason. "What makes you think they still won't?"

Danny watched his every move. "What reasons do they have?"

"If they think you're still alive, they'd just use her as bait. Try to draw you out of hiding and kill you both."

Danny looked as if he never thought about that possibility before. John hiked his foot up on the bucket and leaned against his knee."

"So with all this in mind… let me see here. I'm willing to bet you weren't kidnapped. You were paid off, weren't you? Yes… I can see that twitch from here. You definitely went willingly. Why? Well I'm still trying to figure that one out. I'm guessing you still have some strange beef with my 'psycho-bitch' mom, who really didn't have anything to do with your father's death at all. You thought hey, I'll get her back. I'll finish what he started." John grinned as he watched Danny's face darken. "Oh come on now; at least tell me that I'm getting hot."

The temperature in the basement was 67.3 degrees. John shouldn't have been getting hot. Cameron walked by nonchalantly and brushed his hand, doing a quick scan of his vitals. Except for a slightly elevated adrenaline level and heart rate, he was normal. John glanced at her, having felt the slight contact. Raising an eyebrow, Cameron gave him a small smile in response.

Right. "So the question is now… What do I do with you?"

Cameron remembered the last time she herself said those words. It was the first time she was ever truly conflicted. She knew she should have killed Riley, but she also knew John would be upset. She wondered if there was a similar conflict going on in John's head.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it already. Or maybe you don't have the balls to do it yourself." Danny grinned and glanced at Cameron. "That's why you brought your metal whore with you, right? To do the dirty work for you?"

He didn't see it coming, but he felt the excruciating pain as the butt of John's gun made contact with his face.

"You actually have better chances with her than you do with me right now."

"Doubtful." Danny spit out a broken tooth, a stream of blood pouring down his chin.

John just stared at him. "You know, I really hoped you weren't the asshole I suspected you to be… for your mother's sake. She didn't deserve what happened to your father." John paused a moment to let his words sink in. "And she doesn't deserve what you've done to her."

Danny looked genuinely regretful. John saw a glimpse of the scared little boy he first saw over ten years ago.

John nodded to Cameron and motioned for the steps. He followed behind her, but paused on the second step. Turning back around, he walked over to Danny and punched him in the abdomen, effectively breaking a lower rib. The scream echoed through the basement.

"That's for calling my mom a bitch."

He turned and walked back to the steps, where Cameron was waiting patiently for him. He placed his hand on her lower back and guided her back upstairs.

Catherine Weaver was waiting for them at the door.

"I hear you left him alive."

John nodded. "Leave him down there for a day. Let him feel the pain of his choices. You can have him help you remove the virus from John Henry's chip. Chances are he at least had a hand in writing it." He tucked his gun back in his waistband. "Then… kill him. Let Kaliba find his body so they leave his mother alone."

"Of course, Mr. Connor," Catherine said respectfully, and followed them to the door. "We'll continue to search for Kaliba, but I'm afraid the damage is already done. We're better off starting preparations."

"I figured as much." He paused with his hand on the door knob. "How long?"

Catherine took a moment to answer. "We can't know for sure. If we can manage to slow it down… a year. Two at most."

John nodded and opened the door. Handing Cameron the keys, he headed for the passenger side of the car.

**************

* * *

They'd driven an hour in silence while Cameron kept a close eye on John. His mood was beginning to worry her, and she finally pulled off the road.

Lost in his thoughts, it took John a minute to realize she had parked the car. He glanced around to see they were in an empty lot. "Um, is there a problem?"

"I think so."

John looked at Cameron, confused.

"You've been quiet for 71 minutes. Are you feeling all right?"

John sighed and slouched in his seat. "Yeah. It's just been a long day, you know?"

"I understand."

He watched a piece of paper on the ground blow around in the wind. "I just sentenced a man to death. I as good as killed him myself."

"And you feel guilty?" Cameron guessed.

John shook his head. "No. I don't feel anything. I should feel guilty… but I don't feel a goddamn thing."

Cameron reached over and took his hand. "You wanted my opinion, but I couldn't give it to you because you needed to make your own decision."

John looked at her. "Yeah? So what now? What do you think of the great John Connor's first death sentence decision?"

Cameron's expression softened. "I'm proud of his decision. In the future, he makes a lot of decisions. It's what he has to do. Sometimes he doesn't like the decisions he has to make, and sometimes he makes the wrong choice. But he makes them responsibly and never second guesses himself. He can't afford to."

John smiled and squeezed her hand. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For believing in me."

Cameron smiled back. "I've always believed in you John, even when you didn't believe in yourself." She looked down at their joined hands. "You never gave up on me either."

John snorted. "How could I? You were the best damn thing that had ever happened to me, even if it took me a couple years to figure it out. I wasn't about to let you run away into the future all alone."

Cameron was quiet for a moment. "Even when I went bad."

_Oh… that._ John remembered the moment she was stuck between the trucks. The hardest thing he had ever had to do was pull out her chip while she cried and begged him not to.

She had been right; he did love her. He had known the truth, even if he didn't want to admit it. It's what kept him believing he could fix her. Cleaning her chip and praying it would be enough. It's why he couldn't burn her; why he jammed her chip back in and handed her the gun. Trusted her with his life.

It was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever done, yet the best damn decision he'd ever made, and probably ever would.

"Did you mean… what you had said…?"

Cameron hesitated. She knew what he was asking. "You made the right decision, John."

"That's not what I asked."

She glanced out the window. "Yes, John. I meant what I said. I meant it every time I've ever said it." She looked him in the eyes. "But you made the right decision. I was not fixed. I was using it as a trick, John."

John took a deep breath. He suddenly felt a little validated. He'd always wondered if she was telling the truth, especially with them now. He felt like all the arguing with his mother was really worthwhile. Not that it wasn't, really. Just that he was actually justified in his arguments with her.

"We should get going. Sarah is probably very worried about you." Cameron reached for the keys and started to turn the ignition, but John stopped her.

"She'll be fit to be tied regardless of how late we are. She can wait a little longer." He smiled, and reaching behind her, pulled her into a kiss.

"By the way, thanks for not killing me that day."

"Thanks for not killing me, too."


	2. Chapter 2

"Sit down, Sarah."

Derek sat on the couch with John's laptop on of all things, his lap, stealing the neighbor's wireless Internet connection to watch TV on the amazing site John introduced him to. Sarah had been pacing back and forth for two hours in front of the living room window, and it was driving him crazy.

"I don't want to sit down."

It was the umpteenth time they'd had this same conversation, and it was getting old.

"Sarah I mean it this time. If you don't sit your ass down or go do that somewhere else, I'm going to be forced to tie you to a chair. You're disturbing my Hulu time."

Sarah huffed and sat down on the couch. She'd already cleaned the kitchen and finished folding the laundry. Derek was hogging the computer, and Savannah was fast asleep. Where the hell was John?

"My mother always said, 'if you're bored, go to bed'," Derek mumbled.

"I'm not going to bed until I know John's back safely."

Derek paused _Family Guy_ and glared at Sarah. "You know something? You are the most dramatically high-strung, overprotective, controlling, occasionally whiney, ridiculous woman on the face of the planet. And don't you dare hit me." Derek held his hand in front of his face, just in case. "You need to relax, take a deep breath, and let it all go. John is going to be perfectly fine. He has Cameron in the car with him, and that weird T1001 will be wherever it is they're going. Even he can't manage to screw up enough to get into trouble with that much metal protection. Cameron does a decent job of keeping him in line, even in the future. This one time…"

"Shut up, Derek."

Derek saw Sarah's hands clench into fists, and decided it was probably wise to obey her.

***********************************

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, hold on… my foot is caught… no the other way… yeah, thanks." John fell onto the backseat and rotated is ankle. They should've just used the doors, but for some reason, climbing over seats always seemed way cooler and much more romantic in the movies. He took Cameron's hand and helped her climb between the front seats and into the back seat with him.

"Are you hurt?" Cameron reached for his leg, but John pulled it away.

"No, just a little bruised, that's all." He looked her up and down. "Now, where were we?"

John leaned in and kissed her on the neck, right under her left ear. "We should not be doing this, John. It's dangerous, it's public, and it's illegal."

"Uh huh," John mumbled, planting kisses along her jaw. "Tough fight you're putting up here."

"We have a 36% chance of being caught, and a .5% chance that it would be by a terminator."

"Hmm…" John slid his hands under Cameron's top and pulled it off. "Those sound like pretty decent chances. I think I'll take them. What do you think?"

"You're the boss… I'll just blame it on you."

*************************

* * *

"I'm going to kill him myself." Sarah slammed her phone down on the table and huffed.

"Still not answering?" Derek wagered.

"No. And I just called Catherine. She said they left an hour and 45 minutes ago.

"Okay, so what? Maybe she lives longer than that away from us?"

Sarah glared at him. "That doesn't give him a reason not to answer his phone."

"Maybe they're listening to the radio too loud and he doesn't hear it."

"Or maybe something happened to him."

"Or maybe you're being paranoid."

Sarah paused and considered it. "Do you think I am?"

"Yes. You're just freaking yourself out for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Now shut up, scoot over, and just watch this with me before I get the rope and duct tape."

*****************************

* * *

"John, I can't find my underwear."

John looked up from his search for his cell phone. "What? They gotta be here somewhere."

"I know, but I can't find them."

John halted his search for the phone and began helping her look. He couldn't find them either.

"Okay, this is not good. We can't leave them in here." He glanced around the car, trying to figure out where he would be if he were panties. He stood up and looked in the front, and sure enough, they were on the passenger seat. "How'd they get all the way up here?" He handed them to her and started searching for his phone again. "Where's your phone? I need you to call mine."

Cameron picked up her jeans and pulled out her own phone from her pocket. Five missed calls. "Sarah has been calling us."

"Oh, great, just what we needed. Let's hurry up and get back home before she steals a car and hunts us down."

"There's only a 12% chance of that happening."

"That's 12% too much when it comes to my mother. Do you really want to explain this to her?"

"I'm blaming you, remember?"

John quickly pulled on his own jeans. "Yeah. I remember. Sacrifice the man you're supposed to be protecting to his dragon mother. So kind of you."

"Your mother still saves a box of thermite under her bed for me." Cameron finished tying her shoes and opened the door. "The worst thing she'd do to you is ground you."

John slid back into the front seat the conventional way. "All right, you win that one."

* * *

*****************************

They pulled up to the house 35 minutes later, after Cameron the Speed Demon high-tailed it at nearly double the speed limit all the way home. John had to nearly pry his fingers off the "oh shit" bar to open his door.

Cameron quietly opened the front door, and John followed her into the house.

Sarah and Derek were asleep on the couch, his laptop resting on their laps, and Sarah's head on Derek's shoulder. Derek's head was simply tilted back, mouth wide open. John wondered when the two had gotten so friendly.

He stood in front of the couch and crossed his arms, clearing his throat loudly.

His mother and uncle both jumped awake. Derek grabbed the falling laptop while Sarah pulled her gun out from her waistband.

"John!" She quickly lowered her gun.

"Well, it certainly is good to know a terminator could waltz right through the front door and kill you both and Savannah, without either one of you being the wiser."

Both adults looked a little sheepish, but Derek wasn't about to go down without an argument. "Any other terminator wouldn't have a key to the front door. I'm quite certain a 350 pound machine barging through the front door would wake me up."

"He has a point," Cameron agreed, earning her a patient glare from John.

Sarah looked her son up and down, not missing the blood splattered on his right sleeve. She jumped off the couch and grabbed his arm. "Is this yours?"

John looked down at his arm in surprise. "Uh, no. It's not mine. I didn't even realize it was there."

Sarah didn't let go of his arm. "Are you all right?"

John nodded. "Yeah, mom. I'm all right. Don't worry." Unexpectedly, he pulled her into a hug.

Sarah held her son tight, and let the silent tears fall. Derek quietly got up and headed for the kitchen, motioning for Cameron to follow.

John felt the silent sobs rack his mother's body. He simply held her until she pulled away, a little embarrassed. Seeing his mother cry nearly tilted his world upside down. She never cried… at least in front of him.

"You look exhausted mom, why don't you go to bed. I'll fill you in on everything tomorrow, okay? It's all taken care of, you can stop worrying."

Sarah wasn't exactly sure if that was good or bad, but John was right. She was exhausted, and it could definitely wait till morning.

"All right," she agreed, nodding. "Get some sleep yourself and I'll see you in the morning." She reached out and caressed her son's cheek, and needlessly fixed his jacket collar.

John watched as her head tilted, and her fingers fumbled with the neckline of his T-shirt. "John… why is your shirt on backwards?"

Shit. He quickly racked his brain for an excuse, but only a stupid commercial came to mind. He briefly wished he had a Twix. "Um… I dunno. It did feel a little funny. I must've walked around like this all day."

Sarah furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to remember earlier that day. "This is the stupid shirt with the gas mask on it isn't it?"

John made a show of looking at his shirt. "I'm not sure; it was dark when I put it on this morning."

Sarah stuck her tongue in her cheek and folded her arms.

"Hey Tin Miss, get out here."

Cameron walked in from the kitchen, appraising the situation. Sarah, meanwhile, was appraising her up and down. There didn't seem to be anything out of place on her.

Cameron noticed John's shirt was inside out, and the slight blush that ran down his neck. She assumed they'd been busted.

"Cameron, you have exactly 15 seconds to explain what took you so long to get home… and why neither of you answered your phones."

Cameron tilted her head and looked Sarah in the eye. "John had been quiet for a long time after we left, I was concerned. I pulled over to ask if he was okay after dealing with Danny Dyson. The cell phones were on vibrate, we did not hear them."

"Uh huh, where were the cell phones?"

"In the back seat."

"With you two?"

"Yes."

Cameron realized her mistake a second too late. She was simply answering the questions, not analyzing them. Upon seeing John's shoulders slump behind Sarah, she realized she should have lied.

"I'm disappointed in you."

John looked up, prepared to be hit with the one look every child in the world dreads. To his surprise, it wasn't aimed at him. It was aimed at Cameron.

"You know better than that, you're supposed to be intelligent. You know just how unsafe it was. Why would you deliberately put John in danger like that? You're supposed to be his protector. I trust you with his safety. _He_ trusts you with his safety."

"Mom…" John interrupted. He could see the look in Cameron's eyes that only he would notice. She didn't like being reprimanded anymore than anyone else did. He wasn't about to let her take the heat, when in all honesty, she really wasn't the one to blame. "It was my fault. She did warn me, I basically said I didn't care. Don't blame her."

"And I told you before not to make excuses for her."

"I'm not making excuses! Stop trying to blame her for everything!"

Sarah turned back to Cameron. "Is that the truth? Did you warn him?"

"Yes, I warned him. He chose to take the 36% estimated chance of getting caught."

Sarah took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm tired. We'll finish this in the morning. For now, you're both grounded."

John's eyebrows nearly jumped off his forehead. "What? How are you grounding both of us? She's not even your kid! She's not even a real kid! You can't ground her."

"She is now, and yes, I can. I believe I just did. Your fault or not, it takes two to tango." She headed for the stairs. "Get to your room, John. Tin Miss, outside. You're on patrol duty… all night. You don't walk back through that door until first light, got me?"

John and Cameron gave each other incredulous looks. They heard snickering coming from behind them, and looked to find Derek leaning in the kitchen doorway.

"That has to be some of the funniest shit I've ever witnessed. You two getting grounded by Mama Connor… that'll forever be a classic."

"Shut up, Derek."

"Hey, I'm actually with Sarah on this one. Serves you two right. What if you got busted, by cops or otherwise? You really want to see your girlfriend have to kick ass stark naked?" Derek paused. "On second thought…"

"DEREK!" Both Cameron and John yelled in unison.

"Hey, I'm just sayin…"

************************************************

* * *

Sarah walked downstairs early the next morning and found Cameron at the stove.

"Good morning, Sarah."

Sarah didn't respond. She walked to the fridge to dig out the coffee can, but was intercepted by a steaming mug.

"Milk, and a teaspoon of sugar."

Sarah blinked, and accepted the coffee. She tasted it, and was surprised it was made exactly how she liked it. She glanced at the stove and saw diced potatoes frying in a large pan, with what looked like onions and peppers. She wasn't aware they even purchased such vegetables.

She moved out of the way as Cameron opened the fridge and pulled out a pound of bacon. Somebody went grocery shopping…

"Did you get bored out there last night?"

"There were no threats."

Sarah nodded and watched her lay the bacon in another pan. She wasn't aware they owned that many pans, either. She looked at her coffee thoughtfully.

"Sucking up isn't going to get you ungrounded, you know."

"It never hurts to try."

Despite herself, Sarah had to smile. She set her half empty mug down on the counter and headed downstairs to the basement.

She found her son sprawled out over the bed, blankets thrown off on to the floor, and the sheet twisted around his legs. She reached down and swatted his butt as hard as she could.

"Ahhh! Jesus mom what the hell?"

"Morning sunshine! Time to get up."

"What?" He rubbed his butt and glanced out the little window. "It can't be any later than 7 am. What's the deal?"

"The deal? It's morning. It's a beautiful day. Grounded boys don't get to waste it sleeping in."

John groaned and pulled the sheet over his head. "Mom, I'm seventeen years old. You can't seriously ground me."

"Until you're eighteen you're still a minor, and I can seriously ground you."

"I can lead an army against killer robots, but I can't spend a little quality time with my girlfriend away from my dysfunctional family without getting _grounded_?"

"Not that kind of 'quality time', in the family vehicle, in the middle of the night out in public. You need to start thinking with your head, not your…"

"MOM! UGH!" John shivered. "Okay, I got it. It'll never happen again. I promise."

"Good. Now get up. There's carpet waiting to be vacuumed and furniture asking to be dusted."

John groaned again. Vacuuming was the devil's work, and dusting wasn't far behind. Maybe he could convince Cameron to help…

"Fine. Ten more minutes."

Sarah, who was picking up various dirty clothes from the floor, threw a shoe at her son.

"OW! OKAY! Geez… I'm up, I'm up."

"Your love machine is busy upstairs trying to cook her way out of punishment. Don't make me ask her to carry you upstairs."

John cringed, knowing Cameron would have no objections. He kicked the sheet off and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"How long are you enslaving me and holding me hostage?"

"About a week, with chance of parole."

"A week?"

"I can make it two if you like." Sarah smiled as her son glared at her menacingly. "Wear old clothes today. You'll be washing the car, inside and out, paying close attention to back seat upholstery."

*********************************************

* * *

John climbed the stairs and headed straight for the shower. It was pointless really, since what his mother had planned for him would have him sweaty and dirty in no time, but it helped him wake up.

He wrapped a towel around his waist and combed his hair back. He spent a few long moments looking at himself in the mirror. He needed a haircut, and he definitely needed to start working out again. He flexed his arms, and noticed a bit of muscle definition loss. Yeah, he definitely needed to work out.

He headed back downstairs, detouring through the kitchen to grab a glass of juice.

"Good morning, John."

"Morning, Cam. Holy crap, it looks like Denny's in here. I knew I loved you for a reason."

She handed him an empty glass. "Would you like pancakes or eggs?"

"As much as I _love_ pancakes…" John said sarcastically, uncapping the orange juice. "Eggs would rock my world."

He put the carton of juice back in the fridge and stole a piece of finished bacon. "Mom said you were sucking up… I didn't realize she meant you went all out."

"You do not get enough variety in your diet."

"Oh, come on, you mean burnt and semi-burnt doesn't count for variety?"

"I'll give you variety, John Kyle Connor."

John jumped, hearing his mom pull out the dreaded middle name.

"You're dripping all over the floor! Get downstairs before I toss you down the steps."

John snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Cameron…"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

************************************************************

* * *

John lugged his sixth bucket of water outside. As luck would have it, he couldn't find a hose in the shed, and his mother refused to let him take the SUV to a normal carwash. When he mentioned having to wash the car, Cameron mysteriously disappeared. He hadn't seen her for an hour.

At least he wasn't the only one stuck doing chores. Derek was nominated to mow the lawn, and even Savannah was sweeping off the back porch and feeding the kittens. Sarah had taken it upon herself to scrub the bathroom, claiming nobody else could do a satisfactory job of disinfecting. Nobody argued with her, either. John suspected it simply gave her time to herself to deal with everything he told her about the previous night.

He dumped his fifteenth bucket and watched the last of the soap roll off the hood. Sighing in relief, he tossed the bucket aside and sat down in the grass, arms resting on his knees. It was hot, he was exhausted, and he wondered how much ice cream it would cost him to get Savannah to help him dry.

A glass of water appeared out of nowhere in front of his face, and he looked up to see Cameron settling down beside him.

"There you are. Nice of you to drop by." He took the glass gratefully and finished it all at once.

"I was busy."

"Uh huh."

Cameron noticed the bucket in the driveway. "You didn't wash the car with a bucket, did you?"

"Yeah, why? What the hell else was I supposed to use?"

"The hose would have been easier and more effective."

John shook his head. "What hose? We don't have one, I looked."

"The hose wrapped up on the side of the house."

John turned his head slowly. "You're not serious, are you?"

Derek, who was busy cleaning off the lawn mower blades and heard the whole conversation, began to laugh. John turned his glare on him.

"Don't tell me you knew about the hose, too."

"Yup."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask."

"You're an asshole."

Derek simply laughed harder.

Cameron took the glass from John and stood up. "I'll help you with the inside, John."


	3. Chapter 3

John sat down across from his uncle and unwrapped the tastiest looking gyro he'd ever seen. "God bless you real food," he said, before picking it up and taking a too large bite.

Derek chuckled. "How did you survive a week of grounding? I think your mother made pancakes twice a day on purpose."

"Cameron kept me supplied with Cheetos and taquitos. She'd go to Wal-Mart and 7-11 at night when she got bored."

He was nearly moaning with pleasure every bite he took. "I should thank you by the way, for convincing her to let me out on probation."

Derek shrugged. "Yeah, well, we need to get back to business, and there's some things we needed to talk about… without her around to go all spastic."

"Like what? You're not going to try to give me some strange talk about the birds and the bees with cybernetic organisms are you?"

Derek laughed and nearly choked. He set his burger down and took a long sip of his Coke. He looked at John and suddenly felt a bit nervous. If he was anything like he was in the future, there was a 50/50 chance his temper would explode. "John, when I told you why I was sent here, I didn't quite tell you the whole truth."

John put down his gyro and stared at his uncle for a long moment until he was visibly squirming. _Cool, I have an intimidating stare. I'll have to remember that._ Finally he let his uncle off the hook. "Yeah, I kind of figured. I know Cameron well enough to know she wouldn't just send you back to be a pain in the ass."

Derek grinned and scratched his head. "Yeah, it's been fun though."

They shared a laugh and ate for a few more minutes in companionable silence.

"So… what is your secret agent mission?"

Derek swallowed his mouthful and looked interestedly at a woman reading a book at a nearby table. "Like I told your mom the other day, I'm not the only resistance soldier you have here."

John shrugged. "Well that wasn't a surprise. We seem to run into them every now and again. Or… they run into us."

"Yeah, well," Derek bit another fry. "I doubt those soldiers were T-1001s."

John lowered his gyro that was halfway to his mouth. "Excuse me?"

Derek found something interesting in the pattern on the table and focused on it. "It was pretty much decided that the future was going to have to change drastically. It took a very long time to get to the point we were at in defeating Skynet, and by then, most of the commanding soldiers had died... including you. The resistance was being run by young, inexperienced soldiers. Granted they grew up in the future, but that didn't give them the knowledge or experience they needed to continue on. Cameron sacrificed herself to bring a final end to Skynet, but that didn't end the war. The world was dead. It was going to take an awful lot to rebuild and renew." Derek shook his head and took another drink. "When you grow up in the tunnels, John, you don't exactly get to learn how to farm, build houses, or even know what plants are actually edible. They didn't know how to read or write… Christ, most of them couldn't even multiply or divide."

"Cavemen really didn't either, did they?" John said thoughtfully.

"No, I suppose not. I'm not saying that humanity wouldn't have survived. Just that it would take an obnoxious amount of time… maybe too long for the survival of some."

"I don't know, Derek. Maybe that's what the world needs. Time to start over. We've pretty much destroyed it enough ourselves, without Skynet's help."

Derek shook his head. "Stop thinking like a tree hugger and think practically. History repeats itself. Think of all the wars that happened throughout history. All the 'evil' rulers there have been. All the jackasses that ruled even this country over the past 200 years. Seriously John, do you really think that's what humanity needs again? They need elders to learn from. They need to learn from what we already know. Humanity needs to move on from the war, not start over and repeat all of its mistakes."

John conceded. Derek was right. Thousands of years from now, if humanity wasn't too dumb to survive, they'd be right back where they were, fighting the same exact wars, not unlike they were now.

"So what does this have to do with T-1001s?"

Derek finished his fries and the last of his Coke. "Well… that T1001 you all call Catherine is pretty much the leader of them all. I guess in some sort of alternate future you had asked her to join you or something… I don't know, this different future crap drives me crazy. Anyway, in my future she gathered up the rest of her model, and most decided it was a good idea to fight Skynet. Don't ask me how or why, I'm not a machine; I don't understand terminator logic. But evidently, they thought it was a grand idea. I just knew nobody was going to argue with you, or them for that matter, when the alliance was created. We needed all the help we could get. Anyway… one evening Cameron called me into a meeting with her and Catherine. They realized that we had a better chance against Skynet if you were able to take control of the resistance earlier on."

Derek sat up and leaned against the table before continuing. "You see, it takes a good ten years for you to rise up in command after J-Day. What's left of the US military is largely in control, and it takes a long time, and a couple blown up submarines, for you to take charge. That's a whole decade of time wasted, don't you think? They thought so. So they decided to send some T-1001s back to infiltrate military command in key places that survive. So when Judgment Day rolls around… guess who's not going to have any difficulty convincing the military commanding officers this time?"

Derek regarded his nephew, who looked like he'd lost his appetite. He felt bad for the kid. He couldn't imagine being 17 and learning about his future so definitely. He couldn't imagine growing up knowing he'd have to lead humanity against an army of killer robots.

"So what exactly are you here for?"

Derek sat back and stretched out his legs. "Well you had it pretty much right the first time. I'm here mostly to be a pain in the ass."

John rolled his eyes and took a sip of his Dr. Pepper. "Figures."

Derek laughed and shrugged. "Who else was going to tell you about the master plan? There weren't any carrier pigeons left to bubble back." Derek sobered and looked at his nephew seriously. "I also know of a few other resistance soldiers she sent back."

John's attention was refocused on his uncle. "Where?"

"All over. Reprogrammed and self-aware machines aren't your only protectors, you know."

"So, what, they just roam around, watching me from the shadows, waiting to jump in and save the day if a terminator shows up?" John looked around suspiciously, actually expecting to see dark figures peeking around the corner.

"Actually…" a female voice said behind him. "Most of us don't hide in shadows."

The woman who had been reading the book had suddenly appeared next to their table and pulled out a chair between John and Derek.

John jumped as a hand rested on his shoulder and he heard the telltale click of a gun. "You have five seconds…" Cameron said in her low, I'm-a-scary-robot voice.

"Whoa, relax Cameron. She's with us. Put that away before someone sees it for crying out loud." Derek looked at John pleadingly. Cameron wouldn't listen to him, and he knew it.

"Cam, it's all right, put it away." John said. He reached up and covered her hand on his shoulder with his own, and watched as she reached behind her and tucked the gun back in her waistband, not taking her eyes off the stranger. It was almost creepy the way she could appear out of nowhere. She'd left them alone for their "guy time" when they arrived, claiming there were supplies they were low on. John glanced down. Curiously, she had no bags. _Must've just been lurking in the shadows watching like a hawk._ He turned back to the woman.

"She gave you 5 seconds, I'm not going to give you any more," John said.

The woman nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but Derek interrupted. "John, this is Captain Danielle Martin of Tech-Com… from the Connor Camp."

She held out her hand. "General… nice to meet you again."

John winced, as Cameron's grip on his shoulder got tighter. "Nice to meet you Captain Martin," he said, shaking the woman's hand.

"Please, call me Dani. Everyone does," she smiled politely. Maybe a little too politely.

"Then call me John. Everyone does," he said, hesitantly returning the smile. John nearly yelped when he felt his shoulder being crushed under Cameron's grip. "Cam… please… sit DOWN," he managed whimper.

Cameron seemed to suddenly notice her grip, and let go immediately. Without taking her eyes off Dani, she took the last seat next to John and nonchalantly picked up his Dr. Pepper.

John looked back and forth between the two. Obviously, Cameron didn't like this Dani. John regarded the new woman curiously. She had long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and as John watched, she brushed her bangs away from her green eyes. She was attractive, he'd give her that. John glanced back at Cameron, who had a jealous streak a mile wide… _Hmm._

He pushed the other half of his gyro towards her. "You want it? I'm not hungry anymore."

"It's just a waste of food," Dani said snidely. "She doesn't even need to eat."

"Dani!" Derek warned.

Cameron, purely out of spite, picked up the messy flatbread sandwich and took a bite.

"Why is she here, anyway?" Dani huffed. "I thought she did us all a favor and blew herself up into pieces."

John suddenly stood up, silencing the table. He gave his uncle a long, seething look, and gathered up his trash. Walking around the table, he patted Cameron's shoulder letting her know she should stay where she was at.

"You've upset John," Cameron accused.

Before she could respond, Derek grabbed Dani's arm. "Remember with whom you are speaking." He gave her a cold stare until she looked away and he let go of her arm, leaving light finger marks on her skin.

John reappeared carrying an orange-ish colored smoothie. He noticed everyone at the table found somewhere else to look at… except Cameron. He was her sole focus. He took his seat again and handed her the beverage.

Cameron took a sip and smiled. "Peach is my favorite."

"I know, that's why I got it," he said, returning the smile.

John turned back to the others, not missing the disgusted look on Dani's face. "So are we all just going to sit here and chit chat, or is someone going to explain who she is and what she's doing here?"

"I'm here to help," Dani said, more than a little annoyed.

"Well," John sat back in his chair, and rested his folded hands on his stomach. "I wasn't aware I needed anymore help. But okay, whatever. What I really meant was, why are you here, in this town, at this café, today?"

"She's my liaison with the others," Derek explained. "Or, at least that's the excuse she's using. While I'm living with you, I can't exactly keep in touch very well. She keeps in contact with everyone else for me… for us." Derek noticed the doubtful look on John's face.

"I don't trust her," Cameron stated bluntly.

"I don't trust you either," Dani retorted.

John bit off a grin and held up his hand. "Cameron… why don't you and Captain Martin take a walk?

Cameron felt a little… put out, was it? But she understood that John needed to talk to Derek alone. At least, away from _Dani_.

"I don't need a babysitter," Dani spat.

"Then go in opposite directions…" John said impatiently.

He waited for them to disappear around the corner before turning to Derek. "I should probably kill you, you know."

Derek cringed. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, she wasn't my first choice. She's necessary… but definitely not my first pick. She wasn't Cameron's either, which I'm sure you could tell. But Warren got shot shortly before we were to leave, and she volunteered. We didn't have much choice. I wasn't at all happy, but Savannah was in charge. I think she agreed just because she couldn't stand her, and it was an excuse to get rid of her. Don't get me wrong, she does her job well… it's just that her attitude leaves a lot to be desired." He idly played with the straw in his empty cup.

"Yeah, no kidding," John said, taking a sip of the smoothie Cameron left on the table. He could taste a faint hint of her strawberry lip-gloss on the straw, and it made him wish he could taste it at the source. "She and Cameron seem to have some serious issues with each other, which is odd, considering they come from two different futures."

Derek shrugged. "Not everyone in the future likes her. You're best asking Cameron her side of the story, before I divulge any of my own speculation from our future."

"Fair enough. But why now? Why didn't you tell me about her before?

Derek shifted in his seat, visibly uncomfortable. "Well, it never came up before now. I didn't actually set this up… she just 'conveniently' happened to be here. I was just looking for some good food, and a good opportunity to tell you the T-1001 business."

Derek got up and threw his own trash away, and took a seat closer to John.

"Look, I'll be honest. I don't trust her either. Like I said, she wasn't Cameron's choice to come here. There was a group of us that Cameron chose before she died. Apart from me, they were all young soldiers who had been born after Judgment day, so they have no records here. Dani was definitely not among them, for obvious reasons… and I told you what happened there. Anyway, when we bubbled here, we were all sent out to our designated locations Cameron had given us. I, of course, was supposed to find you. Dani followed me around until I found you, then she was on her own. It seemed to work at first, until I saw her the other day when we were out. Yeah, I had to tell her the general area in which to meet me if she needed me. She's the liaison after all, so I didn't think much of it. But for her to be here today... it's not exactly protocol. She's getting too close. I'm not comfortable with it, and I'm not quite sure what to do, I guess."

"What exactly is making you uncomfortable about it?" John asked. "She's supposed to be pretty much looking out for us, isn't she? You afraid she's got ulterior motives?"

"I'm not saying she's a gray or anything like that, if that's what you're asking," Derek stammered. "She just… well, let's just say she'll do just about anything to get what she wants. She didn't make Captain in your camp for no reason."

John narrowed his eyes.

"No, no… nothing like that." Derek corrected quickly. "She's smart, and she's good at what she does. I'm not saying she didn't earn her title… just that… she's a huge ass suck up to you, and it grates on everyone's nerves, especially Cameron's."

"I see. So you think she's hanging around for a reason then. Maybe even volunteered to come back… for more than just the obvious perks of pre-judgment day?"

"Yeah… I do. She'll definitely try to get to you. I think she thought that if she came back, she'd be about your age, not 20 years younger…"

"Oh God, we so don't need to go through another Riley."

"Who?" Derek had never heard of her.

"Never mind.

"Right… I don't think she's truly interested in you for _those _kinds of reasonsanyway… yeah she's going to play you for it, but more for the potential to move up in the world."

"Hmm. She sounds like a pleasant human being. Oh, here they come… and all in one piece, too."

The girls sauntered back to the table, walking a good three feet apart. Dani took Cameron's seat on the other side of John, leaving only Derek's old seat across from him. Cameron didn't sit; instead she chose to remain standing and stared at Dani.

"Is there a problem?" Dani looked up at her innocently.

Cameron looked as if she was about to reach out and snap her neck, but John spoke up before she could.

"No," John reached out his hand to Cameron. "There's no problem at all."

Cameron took his hand and allowed him to guide her down to sit on his lap. She made sure to balance her weight, so as not to completely crush his leg.

John wrapped his arm around Cameron's waist and handed her the smoothie. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Derek bite his lip trying not to grin. He could imagine the look on Dani's face, but purposely avoided looking so as not to make it seem he was doing it all on purpose... which, of course he was.

"I have an idea, babe." John had never used the endearment before for anyone. He had consciously added it in, but after saying it, he was actually surprised at how natural it sounded. "I promised you a trip to the mall when mom let me out of the cage."

Cameron turned slightly and wrapped her arm around John's neck. There was a twinkle in her eyes and a hint of a grin on her face. She was picking up on the game. "Yes, you did. Can we go now?"

"I'm game. What do you think Derek? I'm sure there's an arcade there or something." John glanced at his uncle. It was the closest, most intimate position he and Cameron had ever been in front of anyone. If his mother were there, she'd probably have swallowed her tongue. Derek didn't seem to even notice.

"I don't care. It's either the mall, or hang out with your mom." He pretended to weigh the two choices on his hands like a scale. "Gee, let me think…"

"I've never been to a mall…" Dani sounded genuinely curious. "May I come?"

"No," Cameron said immediately.

John poked her in the side and whispered, "Be nice." He looked at Derek and shrugged. It was up to him.

Derek wasn't far from agreeing with Cameron, but he also didn't want to be the third wheel. Maybe he could get some answers out of her. "Fine." He gave her a warning look that spoke a thousand volumes. "Let's go then."

* * *

**********************

John was absolutely thrilled to finally be alone with Cameron. Derek had politely led Dani in the opposite direction when they arrived, and John made a mental note to thank his uncle later on.

"It's very crowded here. It could be dangerous" Cameron observed.

John looked around. "It's Friday night. It's not like this is a major metropolitan area. There's probably not much else to do." The place was jam-packed with kids of all ages; there were hardly any adults. They probably avoided the place at all cost. "Is there any store in particular you wanted to go to?"

"No."

"Well then… I guess we'll just walk around until we find something." John snaked his arm around her waist and guided her down the crowded corridor. It was slow progress, but John didn't care. He was just enjoying having Cameron beside him. He'd never had a _real_ girlfriend to go to the mall with. Even when he went with Riley, it was just as friends. He usually despised malls, but everything always seemed a lot better with Cameron. _Well, that's an incredibly mushy thing to think. How disgustingly sappy._

Cameron was doing her best to monitor John's safety. It didn't seem like there were any threats, but there didn't seem to be any the last time a T-888 showed up at the mall either. She was also observing the teenagers' behavior around her, particularly the couples.

She didn't really know how a teenage couple acted around each other. She took most of her cues from John, but she knew females behaved differently than males. She wanted them to appear like a normal couple, and she wanted to be as normal a girlfriend to John as possible.

Some of the younger teenagers seemed to be overly flirtatious. Cameron didn't want to be giggly like some of those girls; she knew she'd look like a freak. She spotted another couple about 10 feet ahead of them. She estimated them to be about John's age. She watched them through the crowd of people, making note of everything they did. She recognized some of the covert looks and smiles they shared as looks John had given her many of times. Her head tilted to the right as she watched the girl reach around and slide her hand into her boyfriend's back pocket. She analyzed the action, and her HUD displayed it as an acceptable behavior.

Cameron moved closer to John and reached around his back, sliding her hand into the left back pocked of his jeans.

John nearly tripped over his own feet. He had been focused on a sale sign at Hot Topic when he felt Cameron's hand on his butt. He quickly glanced at her, but she was seemingly paying no attention to him, or her hand, whatsoever. He grinned. "Feeling a little frisky, are we?"

Cameron finally looked at him. "Is it not an appropriate behavior to demonstrate between couples?"

John's face fell, and he looked back ahead to where they were walking. "Right. Of course it is." _Note to self: Never ask a terminator the reason for her actions. It's a serious mood killer._

Seeing the look on John's face, Cameron realized her answer wasn't exactly appropriate. She tried to come up with something to say to fix it, but nothing came up on her HUD to respond. She would just have to make it up to him.

Cameron scanned the corridor, spotting a brilliant pink store ahead. She knew what it was; every mall had one. As the got closer, Cameron angled them towards the entrance. When John realized the destination of her course, he stopped.

"Uhh… I'll just go wait in Game Stop over there." He tried to sneak away, but Cameron grabbed his hand and held fast.

"It is a romantic endeavor for couples to choose lingerie together in Victoria's Secret."

"Didn't I tell you to stop reading those magazines?" John whined. He was _not_ going in there. No way, no how, not even, and no.

"Please?" Cameron batted her eyelashes, and smiled.

John groaned. Sonofafreakingbitch. Sometimes, he reckoned it was much easier before she learned how to perform those most annoying yet sickeningly endearing female behaviors. "Nobody ever… EVER finds out about this. Do you understand?"

"Promise." Cameron took his hand and led him into what he was sure was ultimate doom.

John felt so out of place in the store. Lace, satin, silk, cotton, hot pink, purple, black fishnet stockings… wait. He blinked. Was she seriously getting those?

Cameron sauntered over to him and started looking through a clearance rack. She pulled out a black satin… something. John tilted his head.

"If my mother found that, she'd burn you alive… then castrate me."

Cameron surprised him by laughing. "I was only joking. Here…" She pulled out a gray pair of yoga pants with PINK written across the butt. "If I get these, I can give you yours back."

John grabbed the pants from her and started digging through the rack. "I'll buy you ten pairs if I can have mine back."

She rolled her eyes (John decided she really needed to stop practicing in mirrors) and took his hand, heading over to the largest panty selection he had ever seen.

"What am I supposed to do here?" He didn't even know what the hell the difference between styles was, except more fabric and less fabric. Less was definitely good.

"You're supposed to at least show some sort of interest in helping me choose lingerie."

"Did those damn magazines ever mention that perhaps I might enjoy the fact that Victoria keeps her secrets?"

She ignored him, and held up a lacy thong. "Which color do you like best?"

_Oh, my God. _

"Do you like blue, purple, or pink?" She held each one up one by one, a near-evil grin on her face.

John reckoned life was a lot easier before she started smiling that goddamn sexy smile so much. "Um. Color?" He was trying to imagine her in each color, but color didn't really matter…

"I'll get all three, how's that?"

"Sure," John squeaked. He cleared his throat. "That works."

The line at the register seemed to take forever and a day. Evidently it was rocket science to ring up a few bras and stick them in a damn bag. John meandered over to a rack with perfumes and lotions. He read the names on the labels, and picked up a tester bottle and sniffed. Huh. "Hey Cam…" He took the bottle over to her. "Hold out your arm."

She did as requested, and watched John spray her wrist. She didn't bother smelling it. "Is it a pleasing scent to you?"

John sniffed her arm. It was a sweet scent, with a hint of… He glanced at the bottle. Sandalwood. He never smelled anything like it before. "Yeah, it's definitely you." He put the bottle back and grabbed an unopened box.

They finally reached the register, and John pulled out his wallet. Everything still came from the Bank of Catherine Weaver... or whatever she was going by these days. They kept what was left of the diamonds for emergencies, such as compromised identities, and used the bankcards she supplied them with. He asked once where it all came from, and had essentially been told that between Zeira Corp and the Weaver's assets, money wouldn't be an issue for a decade.

Of course, the world wouldn't really be around as they knew it for a whole decade, so it became a moot point.

*****************

* * *

They got back home well after dark, pulling up the driveway and parking behind a dark colored minivan. John jumped out of the SUV and stared at the monster of a vehicle. They had dropped Sarah and Savannah off at the car dealership before heading out to lunch, his mother having finally decided one vehicle was simply not working. She was picky about cars though, and tended to sit in every vehicle on the lot before making a decision. Nobody wanted to join her. John even felt a little bad leaving Savannah with her.

"What the hell is this?" John asked incredulously.

Derek was standing beside him, a similar look on his own face.

"It's a minivan," Cameron supplied.

"Yes, I KNOW what it is… but why would she buy a _minivan_? What was she thinking?"

"It's a spacious, convenient family vehicle, with 5 star safety ratings, removable middle seats, fold down back seats, and extra cup holders."

Derek and John slowly turned their heads to her.

"I bet it was the extra cup holders," Derek said.

*****************************************

* * *

Cameron walked down the street, analyzing everything that moved in the shadows. It was a quiet night, as it was going to start raining. All the animals had taken shelter.

It was well after midnight, and Cameron was doing her nightly rounds. She wasn't grounded anymore of course, but safety and protection was still her job. She made her way back up to their house and stood on the front porch, watching out over the street like a guard. Nobody was awake in the neighborhood to see her, and she was hidden by shadows anyway. She'd wait fifteen more minutes before going back in.

If John was a sleep, he would probably wake up as he usually did when she finally made her way downstairs, no matter how quiet she was. Sometimes he would go right back to sleep; sometimes they would talk quietly. Other times were spent making love, which was actually improving, as they both grew more confident in what they were doing.

Tonight would probably be spent in conversation. In fact, he was probably still awake, waiting to bombard her with questions. There was a lot of stuff she knew he wanted to ask, and a lot of stuff she needed to tell him, but they hadn't had the chance yet that evening to talk alone. Sarah was up late, and Cameron went out early to get her rounds over and done with.

She caught movement across the street in the neighbor's driveway, and watched the spot for a minute and a half. When no further movement came, she moved her eyes on.

The sound of a breaking twig brought her eyes back to the spot, and her gun was quickly drawn. She switched to a night vision setting she didn't often use, and made her way across the street.

There was nothing there.

She crouched down low and waited. All of her cybernetic senses were on high. Someone was there, and that someone could be a threat to John Connor. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Sarah. She waited for her to groggily pick up, and punched in only three numbers. She heard her curse on the other end and hang up. Twenty three seconds later, lights started turning on in the house.

Derek was out of the house less than three minutes later, gun at the ready.

"Human or metal?"

"Has to be human."

"Which direction?"

Cameron pointed southeast.

Derek nodded, and disappeared into the shadows, grateful one of the streetlights had burned out.

Sarah appeared on the porch moments later, her favorite shotgun in hand.

"John has the back. I'll stay here. You go find it."

Cameron nodded and headed around the house. She did a check of the immediate perimeter before heading in the direction she sent Derek.

*****************

* * *

************

Derek walked for several blocks before sitting down at an old bus stop. He waited a few minutes, reading the graffiti etched in the walls before finally calling out.

"I know you're out there, you better come out now before she finds you first."

Several moments passed before he heard the sound of sneakers on pavement.

"How did you know it was me? It could have been anyone."

"Metal wouldn't have run, and a regular idiot wouldn't know how to evade metal that well. Plus, well, you're an idiot. What the hell were you doing?"

Dani Martin shrugged, and sat down next to him on the bench. "I don't know. I was just curious, I guess."

"How did you find us?"

Dani snorted. "It wasn't that difficult. Just compare old ads to new ads, and figure out which house for rent wasn't anymore."

Derek had to admit it was clever. She may be an idiot, but she was an intelligent idiot. Hence her position in the Connor camp.

"So you decided to stalk us? Hang out at night and watch the house? Did you forget about the guard dog?"

"No, I just… I just needed to talk to you. We didn't get a chance to talk before. I didn't expect her to be creeping around the neighborhood in the middle of the night."

Derek shook his head. "What the hell were you planning on doing, throw stones at my window? You'd probably end up waking Sarah and getting your head blown off."

Dani threw up her arms in frustration. "Look, I don't know! I just had to tell you that I've lost contact, all right?"

Derek fell quiet. "Lost contact with who?"

"Everyone! All four of them Walker, Edwards, Stahl, and Miller."

"When was the last time you had contact?"

"Two weeks ago. I've been trying to contact them since, but I'm afraid there's no point. That's why I've been hanging around this area. I've been waiting for a chance to talk to you alone, but you're always with one of them."

"And what the hell is the problem with talking to me in front of John Connor, the goddamn General for crying out loud? You have me thinking you're up to no good sneaking around like that!"

"Well, I didn't know. He's still just a kid. "

"And so are you! Jesus Christ you have no freaking clue. She should've never have sent you."

"Whatever Derek. I'm here. Deal with it. We need to figure out what to do. We have a big problem here."

"Well, I am going to go home and go back to bed. You're going to get your happy ass out of this town and start hunting down some soldiers."

"They're dead, Derek."

"We don't know that."

"Yes, we do." Dani reached into her back pocket and pulled out a handful of newspaper clippings. She handed them to Derek.

"All unidentified males; absolutely no records. One had a barcode tattoo on his arm. Go figure."

Derek sighed. That would be Miller. "There's only three, though. What about the fourth."

Dani shrugged. "Hiding, probably. But that's not the worst of it."

"Oh great, please, tell me more," he said sarcastically.

"I have more. More newspapers. There are more people dead, Derek. Some of Connor's higher up people, the elite group… they're being targeted. It has to be metal."

"How many?"

"Three."

"How far apart were the killings?"

"A good few weeks. I've looked through older obituaries, but that seems to be it so far."

Derek exhaled in relief. "That means it's either more than one, or one very slow one, probably triple eight."

"You make that sound like it's a good thing." Dani folded up the papers and put them back in her pocket.

"It is," a hidden voice said. "Compared to what it could… or will be."

Both Derek and Dani jumped. Cameron suddenly appeared around the front of the small shelter.

"How long have you been there?" Dani asked accusingly.

"Long enough. You need to come with us now."

"Excuse me?"

"You will come with us," she repeated. "You know who and where it's killed already. We must track it down. Find out where it's going next. We have to stop it before it can get to anyone else." She glanced at Derek. "It would be just one, not several."

Derek groaned. This was not going to be fun. To prove his point, it started to rain.

"Fine. I'm not going to be the one to tell Sarah, though."

******************************** 


	4. Chapter 4

So… there's a scene a fan suggested that I finally wrote into this chapter. I'm sure you can easily pick it out. I figure this was a good time for it, since chapter 5 is going to mostly be some real terminator-huntin action. We'll OD on Jameron here, and have a small reprieve next time… small one. Little bit. Teeny Tiny… for a quarter of a chapter anyway ;-) Enjoy.

*****************************************************************

* * *

Sarah stood at the top of the steps as she watched Cameron and Derek usher a stranger up the driveway.

When they reached the porch, Cameron gave her a short nod. "She's resistance."

Sarah lowered her gun and led them into the house.

********************************************

* * *

"Someone better start talking, because I'm in no mood for this."

Sarah hovered over the kitchen table were Derek, John, and the new young woman sat.

"This is Captain Danielle Martin, one of John's future officers. She came back with me."

"Nice to meet you, Ma'am." Dani held out her hand politely.

Sarah took it, and fixed her with a stare. "What were you doing here?"

Dani fidgeted in her seat. Sarah Connor was a legend, and under other circumstances, she'd be honored to meet her. In the current situation though, she was admittedly a little scared.

"Mom, it's a long story. Just sit down and let them explain. I'm sure there's a good reason Captain Martin was trying to get her ass killed by our resident terminator… and why Cameron let her live." John watched Dani glance loathingly at said cyborg, who was busy setting up the coffee pot.

Everyone looked up as they heard light footsteps coming down the stairs. A disheveled Savannah appeared around the corner rubbing her eyes, carrying her favorite doll.

"What's going on? Who's that?"

Sarah started to stand up, but John beat her to it, placing a hand on her shoulder much as he did to Cameron at the Café.

"We just have a visitor, everything's all right. You can meet her in the morning. For now you need to get back to bed."

"But I'm thirsty."

"Then we'll have Cameron bring you up a glass of water. Come on, now." With a smile, he turned Savannah around and gave her a gentle push towards the stairs.

Sarah watched her son disappear around the corner with the child. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about what she just witnessed. There was a sense of pride at how he handled the situation with gentle affection, but also a bit of sadness. John was all grown up now, and she didn't have to do those motherly things for him anymore. Now, it was supposed to be his turn, and he was doing it quite well.

"Wow, was that Savannah? She was a cute kid."

Dani's question brought Sarah back to the problem at hand. "I take it you know her in the future?"

"Everyone knows her. I'm just a little surprised. I don't think anyone realizes how unrealistically close in age they are."

"They're not. John is technically almost twenty-four years old." Cameron shut the refrigerator a little harder than necessary and headed up the stairs with Savannah's water.

Derek cleared his throat. "John knows most of it, so I suppose it's all right if we get this story rolling."

Sarah agreed, and focused her attention on the man who was practically her brother-in-law… at least in an awkward "I slept with your kid brother before he was born and conceived the future leader of mankind" kind of way.

**************

* * *

Sarah rubbed her eyes and finished her second mug of coffee. "Okay, so there's a terminator on the loose, killing off future resistance leaders one by one, and all the soldiers sent back with you are pretty much dead. By the same terminator?"

Derek raised his eyebrows. It was a good question.

"Most likely not," Cameron said.

"Even better," John groaned, his head resting on the table.

Sarah stared at her empty mug. "Why isn't this stuff working anymore?"

"It's decaf," Cameron answered.

"What's the point of coffee if there's no caffeine?"

"The placebo effect of drinking coffee kept you awake long enough. If you had consumed caffeine, you would not be able to sleep well."

"Right." Sarah yawned, and stretched her arms over her head. She looked at Dani. _Really_ looked at her. While her face and arms were clean, her clothes had seen better, cleaner days. Her hair was pulled back, and Sarah assumed it was probably in the same shape as her clothes. "It's past 2 am; you can stay here on the couch tonight. You can get the rest of whatever it is you have and we can start tomorrow. Why don't you go upstairs and take a shower. I'm sure we can find you something to wear."

Dani actually smiled. "Wow, thank you ma'am. I appreciate it."

"Stop calling me ma'am" Sarah turned to her son. "John, go on to bed. John… John?"

"Wha… yeah I'm up. What?" John sat up and wiped his mouth.

Sarah gave him an affectionate look. "Go to bed. We don't want your drool on the table."

"Yeah, yeah," John stood up groggily. "I wasn't drooling."

Cameron followed John down the steps and started digging through her clothes. "I don't have anything for her to wear."

"I'm surprised you're even looking," John said as he collapsed on the bed, shielding his eyes from the light with his arm. "Don't worry about it. My mom has some baggier clothes that should fit her, and if not, she'll have to wear some of mine. She's a little bigger than you guys."

"She's only a size or two bigger. Just an inch taller than I am. They should fit." She pulled off her shirt and slid out of her pants, tossing them on John's slowly growing pile of dirty clothes.

John shook his head. "Pant size, maybe, but her chest is a lot bigger. I don't see her squeezing her boobs into any of your shirts."

Cameron looked down at her own chest. "Good point."

There was a light knock on the basement door.

"Yeah?" John hollered.

Sarah came downstairs carrying Dani's dirty clothes. "I'm not even sure it's worth washing these, but for now I guess we don't have a choice. Can you get me one of your t-shirts for her to wear, John?" She glanced at her son on the bed. "Cameron?"

Cameron nodded, and sifted through John's shirts. She found a plain black one that would be appropriate for a female to wear and gave it to Sarah.

"Thanks," Sarah nodded to John. "Let him get some sleep. I don't want to deal with him in the morning otherwise."

*******************************************************

* * *

Dani woke to the smell of food cooking in the kitchen, and heard her stomach growl. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and saw several Wal-Mart bags on the floor by the couch. Curiously, she peeked inside one and found clothes. She pulled out several shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, and all the essentials, even a new pair of sneakers and a toothbrush. "Wow" was all she could think to say.

She slid on a shoe and it fit perfectly. "How the hell did they guess my size?"

She stood up and made her way into the kitchen, where she found Sarah Connor flipping something on the stove.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?"

Dani was a little surprised at how pleasant she was. "Um, yeah, I slept great, thanks. And um, thank you for the clothes. How did you guess my size?"

Sarah gave her a weird look. "What are you talking about? The shirt's John's and the pants are just one of mine."

Dani tilted her head. "What are _you_ talking about? I'm talking about the bags of clothes in the living room you left for me by the couch."

Sarah looked lost for a moment, but then a clue flew in through the window and smacked her in the face. "Oh, Cameron must've gone out last night. You should thank her, not me. That would explain how she guessed your size. She probably did some weird body scan or something," Sarah grinned, and pulled several pancakes off the griddle. She didn't miss the look on the girl's face when she told her it was Cameron.

******************************

* * *

John nearly ran into Derek on his way up the stairs.

"Whoa, sorry. Didn't see you."

"That's cause your eyes were closed," Derek grumbled, and watched John walk by completely ignoring him. "Aren't we pleasant this morning?"

"Shut up. I just need a shower."

"Your girlfriend's in there now. Hope you like cold showers," Derek snickered, and left John staring at the bathroom door.

"Oh, hell no." John knocked and opened the door. He blinked a few times upon finding Cameron standing in her underwear cupping her breasts.

"Um… sorry?" He started shutting the door again but Cameron stopped him

"You can come in John."

_Okay…_ John walked in and shut the door behind him. "What are you doing?"

Cameron pointed to the full-length mirror on the back of the door. "I'm looking at my body."

John moved behind her and looked in the mirror. "Hmm…" He began poking various parts of her anatomy, feigning serious inspection. "I see… well, it still looks perfect to me."

"That's the problem."

John gave her a strange look. "What problem?"

"Normal bodies are not perfect." She turned and looked at herself from the side. "This body does not store fat. I do not have thunder thighs, nor do I have cellulite." She turned back to the front. "I do not have belly flab, muffin top, or love handles, and my breasts don't sag."

John started laughing. "Lord I told you those magazines would brainwash you. Are you aware just how many women would kill to have your body? Do you know how many women have _paid_ an arm and a leg and their first born child to have a body like yours?"

Cameron actually looked shocked. "They've sold body parts… and their children?"

"No, it's just a saying… like raining cats and dogs. It means they spent lots of money."

"Oh."

She went back to scrutinizing her body. "In polls done in magazines, most men say they prefer natural bodies. What do you prefer, John?"

"I love your body, you know that."

"That's not what I asked."

"I know what you asked. Do you want the truth?" He looked her in the eye through the mirror.

"Yes."

"The truth is… I don't prefer unnatural, fake bodies."

Cameron attempted to keep her blank terminator face, but John noticed a slight flinch. She tore her eyes away from his gaze in the mirror.

"Thank you for exp…"

"I'm not finished." He took a step closer, so he was right up against her back. "I don't have a preference for natural bodies either." He reached around and caressed her abdomen, sliding his hand further north. "I prefer the ability to do this…" he cupped her breast. "… and this." He slapped her butt, making her jump and turn around.

"And since you just made it so much easier… this." He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her deeply, not waiting for her processor to catch up with his actions before lightly teasing her tongue with his own

He slowly pulled away and smiled. "Those are the bare essentials of the wants and needs of one John Connor."

A small smile played across Cameron's lips. "So this body adequately suits your preferences?"

"Well…" John flipped his hand back and forth. "There are a few subessentials to my overall happiness."

Cameron's face fell.

"Let's see…" John counted off on his fingers. "There's undying love and devotion, complete loyalty, protection against homicidal killing machines… and my mother… that should be a separate one, intelligence, an often odd yet twisted sense of humor, the ability to totally kick ass, an unrivaled fashion sense amongst cybernetic organisms and human females alike, and an inexplicable desire and attraction to my god-like sexy body."

Cameron's face remained blank. One of her eyebrows slowly crept up her forehead.

John's ego deflated just a bit. "Okay, obviously we need to work on that last one."

Cameron finally grinned. "We need to get moving before Sarah comes up here. Breakfast is probably finished by now."

"Oh well. I'm in no hurry for pancakes anyway."

"You should be. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Cameron unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor.

John paused with his arm halfway out of his sleeve to watch her slowly… and he was positive it was purposely seductive… slide out of her panties and brush by him. He felt the long week of his grounding catch up to him, as he watched her bend over to turn the water on and nearly fell to his knees.

He snapped out of his drooling stupor when she disappeared behind the shower curtain. He undressed in record speed and stepped in behind her.

Cameron felt the cold air as the curtain moved, and suddenly, her back was pressed against the wall. John's mouth was on hers, and his hands were everywhere.

Cameron's wrapped her arms around him tight. He trusted her to keep them balanced as his mouth made its way lower.

He had just made it to his goal when there was a knock on the door. He squeezed his eyes shut and stood up, audibly smacking his head against the wall as he fell forward in despair.

"I hate my life," he groaned.

Cameron leaned her own head back, blinking through the spray of water. She was just as disappointed as John was, and was letting her own systems readjust back to normal. A message flashed across her HUD.

_Action Required!_

_Answer door._

There was another soft knock. "John!" She recognized the voice, and didn't need her HUD to tell her it was Sarah Connor.

"Yeah?" John managed to answer.

There was a slight pause. "Breakfast is ready, and Savannah needs to use the bathroom."

John felt like crying. "All right, mom! I'll be out in five minutes!"

He stood back up straight, letting Cameron out of her sandwiched position, and turned the hot water almost completely off.

**********************************************************

* * *

John walked down the steps with Cameron tiptoeing behind him. He looked in both directions before sneaking around the corner.

"Hey, John?"

Damn it.

Sarah stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Have you seen… oh. There she is." She glanced between the two of them, dripping wet and wrapped in bath towels. She fixed them both with a stern stare.

"We need to talk." She turned and walked back in the kitchen.

John and Cameron glanced at each other. That was definitely not good.

************************************************************

* * *

Derek pulled up to the café and put the SUV in park. "How long do you need?"

Dani opened the door and stepped out. "About 20 minutes."

Derek nodded. "I'll be back then. I'll pick you up right here."

"Where are you going?"

"I have something to do for John. I'll be back," he repeated.

Dani wondered what it was he had to do for the kid, but knew she'd probably never find out. "Fine then. I'll be here."

Derek waited for her to disappear around the corner before pulling away and heading for the jeweler's.

******************************************************

* * *

"First, may I reiterate my one simple rule of no fooling around in public territory? You two obviously have a difficult time remembering that."

"Sorry," John and Cameron mumbled in unison. They were sitting side by side on the couch with Sarah standing over them, her arms crossed and foot tapping in a scary "you're lucky I don't just kill you" kind of way.

"Second…" She looked at Cameron. "You're going to tell me exactly what's between you and Danielle, and exactly why you're both waiting for the other's back to be turned to kill each other."

Cameron gazed at her quietly for a moment.

"She's a bitch-whore."

Sarah blinked, and John covered his eyes, laughing silently. He remembered when she learned that word. He hadn't heard her use it since.

"What exactly makes her a 'bitch-whore'?"

Cameron glanced at John. She never planned on telling him the whole story, but lying to Sarah wasn't really a smart thing to do, especially considering the box of thermite that literally had her name written on it with Sharpie. Sarah thought she didn't know.

"She hates machines, and never approved of John's reprogramming. She would often refuse to work with them. She also sometimes does… not so nice things to get what she wants. And what she wants is a commanding position in the resistance."

"Sadly… that's not all that uncommon in society," John pointed out.

Sarah was still staring at her, waiting for further explanation.

"She deactivated me and blamed it on other people. Then pretended to 'save me' to gain special favor with John."

Sarah was rather skeptical. "How exactly did she manage to deactivate you?"

"I was leading a recon mission when we were attacked. A blast from a grenade too close to me caused me to reboot. Everyone else ran, but she took the opportunity to extract my chip."

"Wait, wait," Sarah stopped her. "You weren't even online. How do you know what she did?"

Cameron seemed to sit up straighter. "You'll understand once I finish my story."

_Oh, snap_. John tried his best not to smile. Sarah gave her a warning look, but sat down in the armchair anyway. "Fine. Continue."

"Hold up." John scooted down and fluffed up a couch pillow against the armrest. He brought his legs up on the couch and stretched out, laying his feet on Cameron's lap. "Okay, now I'm ready."

Cameron and Sarah both gave him 'the look', but he ignored it by closing his eyes.

Cameron turned her attention back to Sarah. "A triple eight in our group saw what she was doing and tried to stop her, but she destroyed it. Later, her and a few other soldiers dragged my body back to camp. When John heard, he immediately came for me, and Captain Martin told him that the triple eight had gone bad and deactivated me, and when everyone else ran, she stayed back to help me. She said she stopped it before it could destroy my chip, and brought me back to him.

"When John reactivated me he told me what happened. I insisted that I didn't believe her, and that I didn't trust her. You see… the machines didn't have grenades. He just said it must have been some other kind of explosion, and said that there was no evidence, and the only way we'd find out was by reviewing the triple eight's chip. So that's what I did. It had been slightly damaged, so it took me a very long time to manage to view the memory files. When I finally saw the truth, I saved the files and went to John's quarters. It was late at night, and he always waited for me."

Somehow, it really didn't surprise Sarah. She looked down at her son who seemed to have dozed off… And Cameron, who, seemingly without thinking, had started rubbing his foot. It was such a human gesture that it threw Sarah off. Hands that could crush bone effortlessly were gently massaging, paying no attention at all.

"I was the only person he could talk to. We'd sometimes stay up for hours just talking. He'd eventually fall asleep, and I'd stay and watch over him. He'd often have nightmares that I'd wake him from. Sometimes, he'd cry out for you in his sleep."

Sarah tore her eyes away from Cameron's hands and stared at her in shock.

Cameron smiled. "Even at 42 years old he still missed you."

"Way to make me out to be a huge momma's boy," John mumbled.

They both looked at him, surprised he was actually still awake.

"There's nothing wrong with being a momma's boy," Sarah said, reaching over and playing with his hair.

John batted her hand away. "Don't you dare tell anyone. I have a hard-ass reputation to uphold."

"I never told anyone," Cameron assured him.

"Good. Now, get to the good part. Did I draw and quarter her?"

Cameron suddenly looked very sad. "No, you didn't. When I got to your quarters, I found you in bed with her."

John felt like he'd been physically slapped. He sat up, a little embarrassed that his mother had to hear that. Sarah just cleared her throat.

Cameron looked for all the world like she was living the moment all over again. John realized she probably _was_ replaying it.

"You hadn't brought anyone to your quarters for months. I knew you met with women elsewhere, but never in your own room, and rarely at night. Your nights were spent with me, and even when I tried convincing you that your soldiers didn't like it, you said you didn't care. You wouldn't have it any other way."

Cameron looked away, and John swore she looked ashamed for some strange reason. "Well, that night you did. You had her."

Cameron watched the moment on her HUD.

_She had entered after knocking only twice, as per usual. She never waited for him to answer; she didn't have to. He was always waiting for her. She walked in, and saw him in bed with her. _

"_Cam!"_

_Cameron simply turned around and walked right back out._

"_Cameron, wait!"_

_She stopped in the hallway, the guards conspicuously leaving rather quickly. She turned around to face John, a blanket haphazardly wrapped around his waist. _

"_Cam, I'm sorry. I didn't expect it. She just showed up and…"_

"_Why are you apologizing?" she asked coldly._

"_What?"_

"_Why are you apologizing?" she repeated. She handed him the drive. "The files you requested from the triple eight."_

_John took it, a little stunned. "Did you find anything?"_

"_I wouldn't be wasting your time if I didn't. Have a good night, sir." She turned and walked back down the corridor, leaving John standing there in shock. She had never… ever… called him 'sir'. _

"That was my last night in the future. You watched the files, and saw what really happened. You called me to a back room… the one very few people knew about, and nobody ever came out of. I knew you had a TDE… I knew you were sending me away."

Sarah felt a sense of déjà vu, remembering what she had said to Cameron months ago. "_He sent you away from him."_

"You gave me one last mission: to protect you in the past. You said I was the only one you trusted. You told me I was different, and said it's why I was the only one who could ever protect you enough. You promised…" Cameron let her sentence die off. It really wasn't anything they needed to know anyway.

_Cameron stood naked in the circle watching John press the appropriate buttons._

"_I'm sorry; I can't remember when we actually moved in 1999. I can only send you to the town. You'll just have to wait for me." _

"_I'll wait," she said. John pressed the last switch and turned around to face her._

_They gazed at each other for a long moment, before John finally spoke._

"_I'll probably be obnoxious, and my mother is bound to hate you. But please, whatever you do… don't give up on me."_

"_I can't give up on you, John." He was the leader of mankind. Of course she couldn't. _

"_I'll treat you better, I promise. Trust me."_

"_I trust you."_

All three looked up as the front door opened, and Derek and Dani walked in.

"Oh, hey sorry…" Derek looked at the three of them, a little uncomfortable. "Are we interrupting something?"

"No." Cameron stood up and walked out of the room.

"Always so charming," Dani mumbled.

John got up and followed Cameron, not even bothering to say hello.

"Right. We can, um, go back out… get some milk or something," Derek said.

Sarah shook her head. "No. You though…" she pointed at Dani. "…are going to come sit by me and have a little chit chat."

Derek grinned and pushed Dani towards the couch like a sacrificial virgin. "Have fun with that. Hey John!" He ran out of the room before either woman could even blink.

He managed to catch his nephew before he disappeared out the back door.

John quickly glanced outside, making sure Cameron was thoroughly distracted and out of earshot. He whispered anyway. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Derek pulled a small bag out of his pocket and handed it to John. "I'm gonna go hide in the shed for a while. Your mother's talking to Dani..."

"Wait." John pulled out the small velvet box and opened it. His breath caught in his throat, and he felt his heart speed up. It was exactly what he had hoped for, and even more.

"Well, was it worth the two extra diamonds you paid him for it?"

John turned the box and showed it to him. He watched Derek's jaw drop.

"When are you…"

"Her birthday… or build day, or infiltration day… whatever you want to call it. We're celebrating it."

Derek nodded. "So next Saturday then?"

"I guess it's the same in the future, huh?"

"Yeah, but only a few people know about it. It's more of a private affair."

John closed the box and put it back in the bag. "Here, I need you to hide it in your room. She'll find it in ours."

"Sure." He stuffed it back in his pocket. "It um… looks like we might be travelling soon, doesn't it?"

"Unfortunately." John crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Did Cameron talk to you about…" Derek nodded towards the living room.

"Yeah. It's not pretty. I know that woman in there is a different person, and it'd be about as fair blaming her for those mistakes as would be blaming me for my future self's actions, but…"

"But, she's an asshole, and everyone knows it. Just be careful."

John nodded and glanced at the screen door, where he could hear the sounds of several happy cats. "Let me go be John Connor, boyfriend extraordinaire, and see if I can coax her back in here to start hunting down some pain in the ass terminators."

"Ah, sounds like good times ahead," Derek grinned.

*****************************

* * *

John and Cameron stood over the kitchen table. A large map was spread out over it, with red circles around the towns where the murders occurred.

"I'm afraid I don't see a pattern," Cameron said. "It only appears that it's taking the easiest, most direct course, so we can assume it would not need to back track." She picked up a pencil. "We can also assume then that the most likely directions will be within this area." She drew a curve in front of the last circle.

"Gee, that narrows it down to, oh, the rest of the damn country," John said.

Cameron gave him a tolerant look. "The majority of your officers in this part of the United States came from this general area. Most other people were wiped out, remember?"

"Either way, unless we have a target name, we're not going to know who to look for."

"Not necessarily," Cameron argued. "I know the profiles of all of your officers. I know the towns they are all from." She began circling several towns with her pencil.

"No… you know the profiles of the officers in _your_ future."

"There's a high chance most of them are the same. I recognize the ones already murdered."

"Well… let's double check." John walked out to the back door and shouted. "Hey, Derek!"

Derek poked his head out of the shed to make sure the coast was clear before meandering down to the porch.

"Yes, oh Great One?"

John rolled his eyes. "Will you come in here and take a look at this map?" He led Derek into the kitchen. "Do you remember any of the officers' home towns?"

Derek took a look at the map. "The older officers, sure. But she's got most of them circled already." Derek ran over the list of officers in his head. "These are pretty much the 'elite eight'. I would, just in case, add Rogers who lived here, and…" Derek froze.

"What is it?" John asked.

Derek drew another circle on the map, this one being closest to the last murder than the others.

"Me... she didn't have me on here." Derek looked at John with a worried expression on his face. "If I'm right… I'm next."

Everyone just looked at each other for a long moment, and then suddenly… everyone was moving at once.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is actually about half of what I originally meant as chapter 5, but I've been so busy I haven't had time to edit it all. So what I did (because people want an update!) is cut it in half to where I finished editting. Of course, show me the typos... I don't have a beta reader. Some of you have offered... without me asking... so I'm going to assume my proofreading just sucks that bad? LOL

* * *

Dani sat on the couch and folded her hands in her lap.

"Why the hell do you look like you expect me to eat your face off?" Sarah asked.

Dani blinked. "I don't, I'm just…"

"I make you nervous?"

"A little…" Dani at least had the decency to look sheepish.

Sarah sat back and put her feet up on the coffee table, folding her hands over her stomach in the ultimate relaxed position. She played with a few options in her head.

She assumed Cameron was telling the truth. While the cyborg had lied before, Sarah really didn't think she possessed the creativity required to come up with such an elaborate, screwed up story. Which meant there was a high probability that whatever escaped this young woman's mouth would be a lie.

So.

How did she want to play her cards?

"I just wanna ask you a few questions," Sarah started.

"Um, sure."

"I don't know what to believe from Derek, because he's definitely biased. I want the other side of the story. I've seen how you looked at Cameron. What do people really think about my son screwing a tin can?"

Dani looked a little shocked.

Just what Sarah was going for. "What, you think I love and adore her?"

"Um, no, I.. well…" Dani stuttered, not really knowing how to answer that question.

"Please, spare me. If it wasn't for the fact that I love my son more than life itself, I'd have melted her a long time ago." Truth.

Dani felt her way carefully. "It's sort of the same way in the future. If people weren't so loyal to John, she wouldn't be around. I think a lot of people feel like they owe him their lives or something, so they just put up with her."

"So people really don't like her?"

"Oh, well a lot do, sure. But a lot also don't."

"And… you don't."

"It doesn't sound like you do either," Dani countered.

"I have my reasons. What are yours?"

Dani lifted up the right side of her shirt. There was a two-inch, badly healed scar on her side. "_This_ is why."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "She gave you that?"

"Damn right she did," Dani said, momentarily forgetting who she was speaking to. "Metal bitch stabbed me with my own boot blade. Left me for dead."

"But why? She never deliberately hurt either of us." Well, it was a half-truth. She never did any harm to them while she wasn't all malfunctioning.

Dani shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I don't know. It always seemed she just had some sort of problem with me. She didn't like that John and I worked together so much with the younger soldiers. I guess she got jealous."

Sarah almost laughed out loud. Jealous was definitely the one emotion Sarah could never have denied Cameron having. "Yeah, she does have a problem with that."

Dani snorted. "Tell me about it. Anyway, she said it was an accident, but I know it was on purpose. We were out in the field and an explosion knocked her senseless. I had run over to see if dreams really did come true and she was out for the count, but she came back online, grabbed my boot knife, and stabbed me. Then she just left me there. I guess she made up some sort of excuse when I didn't die, and of course, John believed her." Dani shook her head. "She has him completely wrapped around her deadly metal finger. It's disgusting."

Sarah pursed her lips. Cameron and Dani's two stories were way eerily similar, and she had been a mom long enough to know when kids were lying… this one definitely had something to hide.

"MOM!" Sarah looked up as John ran into the living room.

"SON! What?"

"We have a problem."

**********************************

* * *

Cameron knocked on Derek's open bedroom door before walking in. She found him sitting on his bed, his head in his hands.

She sat down next to him and folded her hands in her lap. "You know you shouldn't go. Catherine and I can take care of the problem ourselves."

"Yeah, I know. Same old, same old. Vested interest clouds judgment and leads to unnecessary risks. I'm old enough to know the drill," Derek sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "And no, you know you're staying here with John."

"Sarah should not go either."

Derek rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Cameron, if there was anything I could do to convince her to keep her ass here, I would. The last person I want with me is Sarah Connor with her sunshiny persona. I'd rather travel with the Candy Man."

Cameron searched her database, but came up empty. "Who is the Candy Man? What brand of candy does he sell?"

Derek held up his hand. "Forget it, he's just an urban legend. He's like the boogeyman."

"Oh, thank you for explaining."

Derek stood up and grabbed his duffel. "Think her body could fit in here?"

**************************************************

* * *

"You're not to go anywhere. You stay here, and you keep out of sight." Sarah held John by the shoulders, effectively putting him under house arrest.

"Mom, seriously, I know the drill," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I know you know the drill. It doesn't stop you from disobeying every time."

Cameron came up behind him. "I will not let him out of my sight."

Sarah didn't doubt she wouldn't either. She pulled John into a hug. "Just for once, be smart and listen to what we tell you. Keep an eye on Savannah."

John sighed and hugged his mother back. "I promise to survive a week without your presence."

"Don't be a smartass."

John laughed and kissed his mom on the cheek. "You be safe as well. Come back in one piece, and make sure Derek comes back too. I don't think that'll be too difficult with a T1001 helping you."

Cameron made a face. "With Derek, you never know."

Sarah had to agree. "I'll do my best." She looked at Cameron, who was standing expectantly beside John.

Surprising everyone, and making John wonder if she was glitching, Cameron held out her arms. "I promise I won't kiss you."

Sarah didn't really know what to do. As much as she was getting used to Cameron, the idea of her son and the machine, and even starting to like her (although she'd never admit it to anyone), she wasn't quite sure she was comfortable hugging her. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure she was a big enough asshole not too. Reluctantly, she allowed Cameron to pull her into a hug. John watched in blatant shock.

Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, Sarah whispered quietly in her ear. "Anything happens to John, you burn. No questions asked, no hesitation."

Cameron pulled away and looked Sarah in the eye. "I'll pour the thermite myself."

***********************

* * *

John shut the front door and locked it.

"God I didn't think she'd ever actually leave."

Cameron stood at the window and watched the SUV drive away until it was out of sight. "They should not be going."

John shrugged and plopped ungracefully onto the couch. "Eh, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'll embrace my mom-free vacation with open arms, thank you very much."

Cameron closed the curtain and looked at him sternly. "Derek is in grave danger. Are you not aware of the gravity of the situation?"

John rolled his eyes. "Yes, Cameron, I am. I simply have faith. Between my mother and Derek, and the ultimate terminator termination terminator…" he paused, going over what he just said in his head. "No, just terminator terminator… terminatrix? Yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, between the 3 of them, one of them not even needing the other two… I'm positive the Reese brothers will survive, my existence will be secure, and the future of humanity will still be saved."

"I guess we'll see." She was still not comfortable with them going, but John had a point. A week without Sarah hovering around really deserved a little rejoicing.

"I'm bored."

Savannah, who'd been watching out the other window, turned around to face John, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

John stared at her, his face blank. He didn't recall ever needing much more than some sticks and leaves to have hours of fun.

"Dani's outside playing with the kittens."

"I don't want to go outside, it's too hot," the girl whined.

"I bet she never had a tea party before."

"I don't want to play tea party."

John stuck his tongue in his cheek. What the hell did she want him to do?"

Cameron saved him. "I downloaded The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast on John's laptop for you. It's on the kitchen counter. You can go get it and bring it in here carefully."

Savannah grinned from ear to ear, and ran into the kitchen. John gave Cameron a quizzical look. "When did you do that?"

"I don't sleep."

"Well, whatever. Awesome idea. She'll be occupied for a good 4 hours now."

"That was the whole point, John." Cameron helped Savannah set up the computer and started the first movie.

"I'm going to go downstairs to do some laundry." She winked at John and smiled, before heading down to the basement.

It took John all of three seconds to catch the hint and eagerly follow behind her.

*******************************************

* * *

"Don't touch that dial, Reese."

Derek paused, his hand halfway to the radio. "But…"

"Don't touch it."

"But this is the lamest radio station in existence. They play that stupid Pina Colada song once an hour, and every other song is Celine Dion. It's bloody torture."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "I like the pina colada song."

Derek glared back at her. "I'm the one driving."

"It's my vehicle."

"Under a fake name."

"Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"Says who?"

"Me." Derek quickly reached over and changed the station. Luckily it was playing 70's rock music.

Sarah reached over to change it back, but Derek slapped her hand away.

Which earned him a punch in the arm.

And he paid back with a pinch in the side.

"Reese!"

"Connor!" Derek mocked.

Sarah sat back and folded her arms across her chest.

"Exactly how necessary is it that YOU live? Kyle is obvious, but you? Are we sure we can't sacrifice you?"

Derek gripped the steering wheel tighter. "John made me promise to bring you back in one piece. He didn't say you had to be ALIVE."

**********

* * *

"Don't stop, John."

John looked into Cameron's eyes. Her hair hung down past her shoulders, covering her face, which was gleaming with sweat. Infiltration technique? Her lips were slightly parted, and her eyes held his in a sensual intensity only she could do.

"I'm not. I won't." John was breathing heavy and sweating profusely, but he kept going.

"Faster, John."

Moaning, John took a deep breath and pushed himself faster. He wasn't going to last much longer.

They made it to the front porch and John collapsed on the steps. His arms stretched over his head in an attempt to open his airways more.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

Cameron stood over him, not even breathing heavy. _Of course, she doesn't actually have to breathe_.

"That would be counterproductive to our mission. I am simply helping you get into shape."

"Right." He looked her up and down. "Could you at least pretend to look tired? You're making me feel fat."

Cameron rolled her eyes and quite ungracefully collapsed beside John on the steps. She held her arm over her face theatrically, and whimpered softly. "Oh, woe is me. I'm John Connor, future leader of the resistance, and I can't even keep up with my girlfriend," she mocked. She thought about actually using John's voice, but decided it would be too "freakish".

Said future leader of mankind raised an eyebrow and glared at his girlfriend-turned-actress. "You forgot to mention my girlfriend happens to be a cybernetic organism who never gets tired."

"Exactly," Cameron returned the stare.

John just shook his head and stood up, needlessly holding out his hand to help Cameron up. "That was quite a performance, Macbeth."

"I read a couple books on acting at the library, and watched several plays on film. I don't sleep."

John paused halfway through the front door. "When did you go to a library?"

*************************************

* * *

"Yes, mom. Everything is fine. Would you like Cameron to tell you as well?" John had his feet up on the coffee table and his laptop in his lap, talking to his mother on the phone.

"No, she'd just lie for you. Let me talk to Savannah."

John rolled his eyes. "No, she's outside playing in the sprinkler. I'm not getting up just so you can ask her if I'm lying."

"What about that Dani girl?"

John groaned. "Give it up mom. She's outside too. Probably building some sort of fort out of leaves and sticks."

The phone was quiet for a few moments. "Cameron didn't kill her, did she?"

"UGH mom, seriously." Then John really thought about it. "As funny as that might be… no, she's sprinkler hopping with Savannah. Cameron's out at Wal-Mart buying some sort of protein powder."

Another silence. "What the hell does she need with that?"

"She evidently found my physique lacking, and decided to start me on a rigorous workout routine, and claims pancakes don't supply sufficient amount of protein for muscle building and stuff."

Sarah grinned. "So, she started making fun of your belly pudge?"

"I don't have belly pudge," John grumbled.

"Okay, you keep telling yourself that. In the meantime, are you keeping an eye out for strange murders? This terminator is way overdue here, and we're all getting rather concerned."

John leaned his head against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling. "You mean, Derek's driving you crazy, and you're discovering just how boredom can dangerously effect advanced terminators?" He could hear his mom grinding her teeth on the other end.

"When Cameron gets bored, she's constructive. When Catherine gets bored… she gets scarily bitchy. When Derek gets bored, it's like dealing with a toddler."

"Sounds like fun. Listen mom, I gotta…"

"Yeah, yeah. Talking to your only mother you haven't seen in almost a week isn't cool, I know."

John rubbed his eyes and stood up. "No, actually, I promised Cameron I'd have the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned by the time she got home."

Sarah, laying on her lumpy motel bed, stared at the ceiling as if it had suddenly warped and grew fur. "How come you never clean the damn kitchen for me unless I ask you 10 times and nearly whip you into action?"

"Because you're not sleeping with him," Derek piped in, coming from the bathroom with a towel around his waste.

Sarah threw a pillow at him. "You're disgusting, Derek."

John had heard the whole thing and laughed. He didn't point out that his uncle had a highly valid point. If not the only point.

"Fine, go clean. I want that kitchen spotless when I get home. Don't forget to move the toaster, don't just wipe around it. And clean out the leftovers in the fridge. There's some scary Chinese food in there that's probably growing legs by now."

"Yes, master," John said, in a creepy Smeagle voice.

Sarah hung up the phone and glanced at Derek. "You know, I used to think he was a lot like Kyle. But now I see… he takes after you."

Derek shrugged and pulled on a t-shirt. "He might get his smart mouth from me, but everything else is Kyle. Including his taste in dark, mysterious, hard-as-nails women… literally and figuratively speaking, of course."

Another pillow found its mark on his face.

***************************************************

* * *

John wiped down the last counter and hung the towel over the oven handle to dry. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured himself some orange juice. Closing the fridge, he turned around and almost ran right into Dani.

"Thanks, that was thoughtful of you." She boldly took the glass from his hand and drank half the glass. John just stared at her, not quite sure how to react… being that she was female. He'd have probably knocked a guy halfway to Guatemala. Instead, he just shook his head and headed for his bedroom in the basement. Unfortunately, she invited herself in and followed him down.

"Why aren't you outside with us? The weather is hot, and the water feels great on sweaty skin."

John glanced up from turning on his laptop to catch her running her hand across her bare abdomen. He suddenly noticed she had borrowed (of course, 'borrowed' might have been an overstatement) Cameron's purple bikini. _It definitely looks better on Cameron_. While he may have been biased, it was undeniable that the top was a couple sizes too small. She busted him eyeing her excessive cleavage.

"A little more than you're used to?" She wore a sultry grin that made him a little uncomfortable.

"Um…" He wasn't really sure what to do or say. He just stood there speechless, trying to find a way out of the situation he could clearly see progressing in a bad way.

"They're real, too. Nothing artificial in these." Dani cupped her breasts with her hands.

"Um, yeah, they're great. I mean, that's great. Look, I need to…"

Dani reached behind her back and untied her top, effectively silencing John as she let it fall away from her chest.

John stared, as any teenage boy would do. It wasn't everyday a random woman untied her top and flaunted her bare breasts.

_Wait, this is so not right._ Somehow, John managed to get his tongue working and found his voice. "Dani, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean, John?" Dani asked with faux innocence.

"Knock it off, Dani. Please put your top back on and get out of here."

Dani tossed the bikini top at John, who instinctively caught it. "Seriously? I find it hard to believe the young General Connor isn't enjoying the sight of a _real_ woman's breasts…"

"Dani! I won't ask you again." He advanced towards her with the intent of returning the top and pushing her up the steps, but just as he held his hand out, the basement door opened.

"John! You should not have left Savannah outside alone, it's way too dangerous. You know better than that, you need to be more respons….ible."

Cameron paused halfway down the steps when she saw the sight before her. Dani stood topless a mere foot away from John, who held her top in his hand. A feeling so strong it surprised her welled up inside, causing tears to fall down her cheeks. Without another word, she turned around and walked back up the steps.

It all happened so fast that John barely had time to process the situation. He saw the look of extreme hurt on Cameron's face, and saw the tears sparkle on her cheeks before she ran back upstairs.

"Wait! Cameron! It's not what you think!" _Oh, God. The line every guilty man uses. This is so not good._ John dropped the top without a second thought and ran upstairs, aggressively brushing past Dani without a glance.

He reached the top of the steps and looked around. There was no sign of Cameron.

"Cameron!"

He ran to the back door and stepped outside. Savannah was sitting on the back porch with Skittles in her lap.

"Savannah, have you seen Cameron?"

Savanna pointed towards the front of the house. "She came out here and told me to sit on the porch and don't move, then ran that way."

John patted her head in thanks as he ran past her and around the side of the house. When he reached the front yard he looked everywhere. The minivan was in the driveway, heat still creating a haze above the hood, and Lizzy the mother cat was sun bathing on the sidewalk… but no Cameron.

"CAMERON!"

A dog barked in the distance, but Cameron didn't appear. She was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Dani stood in the empty basement and heard the back door slam shut. She stared at the bikini top that lay forgotten on the floor. Quietly, she retied it and walked back up the steps.

There was no one around upstairs. She glanced out the front window and saw John sitting on the lawn by the sidewalk petting a cat. Sullenly, Dani made her way upstairs to the bathroom.

She turned around and shut the door, catching herself in the full-length mirror. Looking herself up and down, she frowned. She'd never been denied before. She wasn't even sure she would have been this time if the cyborg hadn't shown up and pulled that dramatic stunt, which sent Johnny boy running after her like his life depended on it.

Dani looked herself in the eye. It wasn't fair. She was a goddamn machine. She didn't deserve him. _Why did he have to choose her…_ it_ over me?_ Swallowing, she slipped out of the swimsuit and stepped in the shower. She turned the water on and let it cascade over her body, the pulse of the water massaging her head and back. It relaxed her, and she let her mind drift… something she rarely let herself do. And for good reason.

_"Look what we have here boys… Are you lost little girl?"_

_The three boys tagging along, all about sixteen, laughed at the apparent ringleader. A twelve-year-old Dani cowered in the corner, trying to ignore them. This sort of thing happened all the time. She was used to being picked on. _

_"Hey, I'm talking to you," the leader's tone became more aggressive. _

_Dani shyly looked up. "No."_

_"Well, you do speak. How about that?"_

_The four boys crowded around her, effectively trapping her in the corner. _

_"What's your name, girl?"_

_"Danielle," she whispered._

_"Ah, what a pretty name for a pretty girl. Say, Danielle… are you hungry?"_

_Dani was starving, everyone was. She didn't bother to answer._

_"I bet you are… Guess what? We have some food with us…" The boy pulled out a bit of dried meat. Like Pavlov's dogs, Dani began to salivate. _

_"I'll make you a deal… you can have this, if…"_

Dani spit down the drain. She had learned long ago her body could get her what she wanted. She poured some shampoo in her hand and began working it through her hair. It worked on everyone. _Everyone_. Except one person… the one person she really ever truly wanted.

_"Please, stop," a sixteen year old Dani pleaded._

_"Shut up, *****. Don't act like you ain't never done this before."_

_"I said stop!"_

_The burly man pushed her hard against the wall. Her head slamming against the brick made a resounding crack in the empty corridor. "And I told you to shut the **** up." The man unbuckled his pants and let them drop to the ground._

_Dani tried to scream, but the man punched her in the face, silencing her. She felt the blood drip down her chin. _

_"That'll teach you. ******* loudest ***** I ever did hear."_

_Dani's vision blurred as the tears filled her eyes. She began drifting away, into the part of her she kept locked up and hidden. Hidden away from reality._

_She wasn't aware of how it happened, but the next thing she knew, she was in the arms of John Connor. Someone had obviously helped her redress. Was it him? He carried her to the infirmary and set her gently on the bed. She watched as he whispered something to the nurse, before turning back and standing over the bed at her side. _

_"When you're ready, you come see me. Immediately." With that, he patted her arm and left her alone, staring at his retreating back in wonder._

Dani felt the water turn cold and quickly turned it off, but made no move to get out of the tub. She stood there shivering, staring at the wet tile on the wall. One of them was cracking, and she idly traced it with her finger.

_She had just been made Captain. It was the proudest moment of her life. John Connor himself had done the honors, which made it all the more special. She beamed as he smiled and shook her hand. Even better was when he pulled her into a hug. Dani could feel her body tingle, and an inner glow of happiness well up inside her. _

_After the incident, John had taken sort of a big brother role to her. He always looked out for her, which was why a lot of people claimed favoritism when word got out about her promotion. She didn't care, of course. Everyone who mattered knew better. Nobody got promoted by John Connor unless they earned it. And Dani sure did her best to get where she was. One way, or the other. _

_She made her way down the corridor towards her quarters. She paused, hearing voices she recognized around the corner. _

_"It's happened. They took her," Cameron whispered. _

_Dani couldn't help but peek. Took who?_

_She watched as John caressed her cheek. "Well, we've been waiting. It's about that time."_

_"I want to be the one to go."_

_John shook his head. "No, Cam. It's too dangerous. Catherine will go as planned and…"_

_"Yes. But I'm going as well."_

_"Cam…" _

_Dani watched Cameron place her fingers over John's lips, and felt a stir of jealousy in her gut. They'd always been 'the' couple. Hardly anyone looked at them funny anymore. Even the apparent age difference went unnoticed. Sure, Cameron aged a little. Skin was skin, and she supposed even cyborgs couldn't look seventeen forever. But she didn't really look a day older than twenty seven either, next to John's 40-ish face. _

_"Please, John."_

_That was all it took. John's shoulders dropped in defeat, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Fine. But anything happens to you, I'm running in and blowing the place up myself." _

_Cameron sighed dramatically and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"_

_John grinned and pulled her closer. "Anything you like. Although, I have a few requests…"_

_As their lips met, Dani quietly turned away and began walking in the other direction, not bothering to wipe the tears from her cheeks._

Dani sat in the bathtub with her arms wrapped around her knees, silently weeping. She'd always used her body to get what she wanted. And it had worked, except on the one thing she really wanted. The one thing she really needed… _love_. Sex meant nothing to her. It got her what she wanted; it served its purpose. But she'd never had a real kiss. Never had a man touched her gently. Except one.

And she could never have him.

It wasn't fair.

*****************************************

"Okay, there is something seriously wrong here." Sarah sat on the hard metal bleacher, watching young Derek Reese pitch another strike.

"Nah, relax. I remember this one. We come back in the last inning and take them 10-7." Derek barely kept himself from jumping up and cheering as his younger self struck out yet another batter.

Sarah just gave him a dumb look. "That's not what I'm talking about."

Derek shrugged, not turning away from the game. "I know that. But what do you want me to say? We're unlisted, they can't exactly follow the old 'find Sarah Connor' tactic by looking us up in the white pages."

"Which is WHY we've been to every single baseball game you and Kyle have played in the past eight days."

"And your point is?"

Sarah wanted to push his annoying ass right off the bench. "My point is… WHERE THE HELL IS IT?"

Derek shrugged again. "Maybe it don't know I played baseball. Maybe it thinks I was in Boy Scouts or something, and it's hiking in the wilderness."

"You made front page in the sport's section of the local newspaper at the tournament last weekend."

"Maybe it can't read."

"Derek!"

Derek groaned and clenched his fist. The woman was really grating on his nerves.

"What… do you want… me to say?"

"Something isn't right."

"No ****. You're a basket case, and I'm watching MYSELF play baseball."

Sarah ignored him and hiked her foot up onto the bench in front of her. It was raining, so the crowd was low. Choosing to sit on the visitor's side helped their privacy as well.

"What if… what if Cameron was wrong?"

"OH COME ON! THAT WAS CLEARLY AN OUT!" Derek shouted, before turning to Sarah.

"Well, it's been known to happen on occasion. Like this one time…"

Sarah cut him off. "What if she's wrong about there being two?"

"What?"

"She said there would be two separate terminators. With two separate missions. What if there isn't? What if it's just one?"

Derek thought about that quietly. He thought about the times between the killings… "Well, it's possible. There's enough time between them all combined, but…"

"But it doesn't make sense, if we think about it like we have been. Because the first officers were killed before your group, right?"

"Yeah, a couple months before, actually." Derek's wheels started turning.

"What if… think. Skynet finds out about your little group jumping BEFORE it sends the machine back to start knocking off the officers. So, instead of sending two, it just sends one… with a little detour mission. It sends it back a couple months before you arrive, it starts killing off the officers, then finds your group…"

"Then goes back to officers. Sarah that's retarded. Why not just kill my group, then kill the offi…. " Derek paused, pieces falling into place in his head.

"Because…"

"It wanted us to think there was two," Derek finished. A stream of curses flowed from his mouth as he leapt off the bleachers and ran towards the car. There was no reason to question why, for there was only one answer.

Sarah followed closely behind, dialing John's number as she ran.

*******************************

Three days. Three days, Cameron had not returned. John knew she was in the general vicinity, as he'd called her voicemail and kept it on long enough to track her cell phone. He just wished he knew where exactly. And that she'd come home.

He'd send Dani away shortly after Cameron left. He simply told her to get out of his sight, and if she knew what was good for her, she'd not bother trying to come back. So far, she was listening. He hadn't seen her since either.

So it had been just him and Savannah for the past few days. He couldn't really complain, he liked the girl, and it gave them a real chance to bond. He wasn't really sure, though, how to handle eight year old girls, but he thought he was doing a rather good job of it.

"Can we order pizza?" Savanna asked, as John reached for the box of froot loops. Dinner was the worst meal of the day without a capable person to cook in the house. After ruining a box of macaroni and cheese, he'd pretty much stuck to cereal and peanut butter and jelly.

"I wish, hon. But that was on my mom's list of forbidden activities." Not that he disagreed really. He'd witnessed a terminator hide a rifle in a flower box. He was sure pizza boxes would be great hiding places as well.

Savannah groaned. "Pleeeeeease? I won't tell, I promise."

John stared at Tucan Sam. He didn't really want to eat the crap again either.

"Hey, I think we have a can of chicken and stars in the cupboard. I think we can microwave that."

"Oookayyyy," she mumbled, her head resting on the counter in defeat.

John's phone buzzed on the counter and he nearly leapt on it like a lion. He quickly glanced at the screen hoping for only one name, and was severely disappointed when he saw it was his mother.

Deflated, he opened the phone. "Hi mom."

"John! You have to get…."

John pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. He had a full charge. He dialed his mother back, but it went straight to voicemail.

"Huh, must be in a dead zone." He set the phone down and went back to attempting to work the electric can opener.

****************************  
"SONOFABITCH!" Sarah screamed.

"What?" Derek was driving 20 miles over the speed limit. He was trying to concentrate on not wrecking the damn SUV.

"My battery is dead! Give me your phone."

Derek's heart stopped. He didn't dare say a word. _I'm going to die._

"Derek…"

"I don't have it."

Derek could feel the lethal energy coming from the woman next to him. "What do you mean 'you don't have it'? Where the hell is it?"

Derek sent a silent prayer to any deity that would listen. "I gave it to Dani."

He heard a cracking sound, and took a chance at glancing to his right. He swallowed hard.

Sarah had literally smashed her cell phone in her clenched fist. _Jesus Christ_.

"Look, I just figured with you and Liqui-Weaver I didn't need it. I thought it'd be better for John's safety if everyone with him had one, just in case." He thought his logic was pretty good, but in the current situation… how could he have ever guessed this would have happened? He scooted a little closer to the door, as if that would save him.

Sarah sat back in her seat, the busted phone still in her clenched hand. She closed her eyes and prayed her son was ready.

****************

Cameron slowly walked down the street, making sure to keep out of sight of any neighborhood dogs. When she'd ran three nights ago, she made the mistake of running by a German Shepherd. She didn't want to give away her location again.

She never left the neighborhood. She couldn't risk leaving John alone with unknown terminators on the loose. She also kept her promises, and didn't want to break one she made to Sarah Connor.

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and ignored the stupid alert message on her HUD. She knew it was probably just John calling. Again. She didn't want to speak to him.

She refused to play the memory of that night over again. She'd watched it countless times, and each time came up with the same logical conclusion.

She found her way to the bus stop she found Derek and Dani at, and sat down on the bench. How could John do that to her? She thought he loved her. She thought he was really different than he was in the future. That was really stupid of her. John was John, and logically, they were both the same person. Why would _this_ John be any different?

She heard a dog barking in the distance, but didn't pay much attention. Dogs barked. It's what they did.

She had listened to John's voicemail over and over. He had explained the whole situation, begging her to believe him. His voice sounded sincere, but she knew voices could be deceiving.

That made her feel a little guilty though. She trusted John, or at least she did. She should _still_ trust him. But she wasn't quite sure she could believe him from just a phone call.

Although, knowing Dani, what John described really was quite likely. She knew the girl's sad history in her own future, and assumed it was pretty similar in Dani's. Having an in depth knowledge of psychology, she could understand why Dani behaved the way she did. Unfortunately, without having met her beforehand, they'd never know to help her. Perhaps this time… they could prevent it all.

She heard footsteps approaching, and looked up to see a dark figure. Scanning it quickly, her HUD deemed it to be Dani. Crossing her arms and legs, Cameron nonchalantly leaned against the bus stop wall, waiting for the confrontation.

Dani stopped in front of the bus stop having spotted Cameron, but didn't say a word.

"What are you doing here?" Cameron asked.

Dani shrugged. "I've come to apologize."

"I don't accept," Cameron said venomously.

Dani copped an attitude of her own. "Not to you. To John."

"Stay away from him. You've caused enough damage."

Dani put her hands on her hips. "Oh? And what are you going to do about it?"

Cameron stood up and moved to within inches of Dani.

"Oh, go ahead tin can. Kill me. Kill me in the middle of the street for everyone to see."

Cameron stared her down until Dani looked away. "I will not kill you."

Dani gave her a cocky smile and walked away, heading towards the Connor residence.

Cameron briefly thought about following, but chose to sit back down instead. She knew John kicked her out of the house three days ago as well. There was a high chance her showing up would upset John even more, and that could work in her own favor.

She pulled out her cell phone and checked the messages. There was a text message now from John. That must've been what the last vibration was for. She opened it up and read it.

"Okay, I know you're pissed, and rightfully so. But could you please come back? Savannah is hungry, and I can't get the can opener to work."

Despite herself, Cameron had to smile. It was definitely like John. She opened up a reply message.

"No. Order pizza. You'll survive." She clicked SEND and tucked her phone back in her pocket.

She did feel sorry for Savannah. She had received a picture message from the girl of the macaroni and cheese John had butchered, begging for her to come back. She still wasn't sure how he managed to get it to look THAT disgusting. She didn't even have an appetite, and it still looked unappealing to her.

Little did John know, while he was brooding downstairs with his headphones on (and probably trying to track her location, as it was about the same time she received the voicemail), she had returned to the house that night to check on them, and left a box of Savannah's favorite PopTarts on her nightstand in apology.

Another dog barked, this time closer. Cameron stood up, her hand finding it's way to the gun in her waistband.

More barking.

Now a third dog.

Cameron pulled her cell phone back out and attempted to dial John, but got no answer. Without wasting another second, she turned and ran towards the house.

***********************

John looked out the window and sighed, before answering the door.

"Dani, what are you doing here?"

He looked at the girl standing on the porch, half lit by the street light. "It's kinda chilly, can I come in please?"

John toyed with the idea of slamming the door in her face, but in case a random neighbor was watching, he ushered her in and closed the door behind her.

Crossing his arms, he stared and waited. After three days, her clothes were filthy, and she smelled something awful.

"Look… I just wanted to say… I'm sorry."

John didn't move a muscle. Even his face remained etched in stone. Sorry? That was it? What was this, third grade?

"I know I crossed a line I never should have, and I regret putting you in that position."

She did look sincere, but John really wasn't buying it. It didn't matter, he supposed. It was what it was. He had more important things to deal with.

"Fine."

Dani, who'd been staring at the floor the whole time, finally glanced up to meet his eyes. "That's it?"

John snorted. "Absolutely not. You'll tell Cameron the truth. Every part of it. And then you'll apologize to her."

Dani looked as if she was about to argue, but something made her stop. Something in John's eyes that she'd never seen directed at her before. The look the General gave soldiers he was reprimanding, that let them know he meant business, and there were no ifs ands or buts.

Closing her mouth, she looked back down at the floor. "Yes, sir," she bit out.

John stared at her quietly for a moment longer, until he simply couldn't stand the smell anymore.

"Please go upstairs and shower. You reek something fierce, and I'm losing my appetite."

Dani flinched, and John mentally tallied a score for himself. Quietly, she turned and disappeared up the stairs.

John rubbed the back of his neck and headed back to the kitchen. "As if life didn't suck bad enough right now," he mumbled to himself.

"Your phone was buzzing," Savannah said, pointing to the device on the counter.

He sighed and picked it up, expecting his mother again. He was shocked to see Cameron's name instead. Before he could redial, the front door burst open.

"JOHN!"

Cameron suddenly appeared in the kitchen doorway. "John, take Savannah upstairs. You have to hide, there's no time to run. NOW!"

John, who's face had gone from relief, to worry, to outright fear in 2.5 seconds stood completely still.

"Cameron…"

"NOW JOHN! JUST DO AS I SAY!"

Chastised, John snapped out of it and grabbed Savannah's arm. "Let's go sweetheart. We'll go up to my mom's room, okay?" That was where the majority of the weapons that were left were.

He pushed the girl towards the stairs as Cameron started turning off all the lights.

"Where's Dani?"

John pushed Savannah up the steps and turned around. "She's in the shower."

"Tell her to stay in there. Nobody comes down. Do you hear me? No matter what you hear John, you stay where you are. If it makes it up the stairs, use the shotgun. There's two depleted uranium slugs left in her nightstand drawer." They couldn't use the guns unless they had to, less they disturb the neighbors any more than what they would be already.

"Cam..."

"Go, John. There's no time." She pushed him, nearly pitching him face first onto the steps. "Keep Savannah safe." She turned around and walked over to the window, crouching down below it, unseen.

John was torn. Part of him wanted to stay. Part of him wanted to gush out his feelings. Part of him was scared to death. The tiny part of his brain that was currently devoted to logic told him he needed to turn his ass around and get upstairs ASAP. He actually decided to listen to this part for once, and ran up the steps.

He stopped at the bathroom and opened the door without bothering to knock. Dani stuck her head out from behind the curtain.

"There's a terminator coming. Now. Stay here. We're not to go downstairs. You're not to leave the bathroom. Understood?"

Dani nodded and turned off the water. John shut the door and ran down the hall.

Running into his mother's room, he pulled out the shotgun from under her bed. In the nightstand, he found the slugs right where Cameron said they would be and loaded the gun. Savannah stood in the corner frozen in fear.

"Come on baby, we need to get in the closet." He ushered the girl into the closet, glad it was rather spacious. He sat on the floor with this back against the wall, and pulled Savannah close to his side. He laid the shotgun across his lap and sighed in the silent darkness.

He could feel Savannah shaking against his side, and held her tighter to him. "Don't worry, it'll be okay."

"I'm scared," she barely whimpered.

"I know. So am I. But we'll be okay. I promise. I won't let anything happen to you."

Savannah half turned and wrapped her arms around John's stomach, clutching his shirt in her hands.

There was a loud crash downstairs. It was here.

*******************

Cameron had intentionally left the front door open, to avoid the terminator from crashing through and alerting neighbors. When it had stalked far enough into the house, Cameron attacked. They landed on the floor with a loud crash. She began pounding its face with her fist, but it managed to throw her off. It was triple eight; it had the upper hand in strength.

Cameron tried to stand up but before she could get up, the T888 kicked her hard in the gut, sending her topping back over. He picked her up and threw her with all his might, sending her crashing right through the wall and into the kitchen. She landed on the table, splintering the wood and falling through.

***********************

Savannah was weeping. "We have to go help Cameron!"

"Shhh… we have to be quiet. Cameron will be all right. She's tough." John wanted to go just as badly, but he knew it wasn't a good idea. _Neither is hiding in a closed space with no exits._ John thought. Derek's closet was the one with the attic entrance, so even that wasn't an escape option.

There was another loud crash, this time sounding like dishes shattering.

He tried dialing his mother again, but there was still no answer. Sighing, he shifted his weight on the floor and felt something in his back pocket. Pulling it out, he realized he forgot he had put is iPod in his pocket.

"Here, put these in your ears," he said, handing Savannah the earbuds. He sifted through his music collection and stopped on Eric Clapton. Calm, soothing, and about the only thing that wasn't heavy metal on the damn thing. He hit play and turned up the volume until he could just hear it as well. It was probably a little loud for her, but that was the point. He didn't want her hearing anything else.

There was loud thud that shook the house, followed by a strangled cry.

"John! John, help me please!" It was Cameron's voice.

His heard stopped, and restarted at triple speed as he gripped the shotgun, feeling the smooth metal under his hand. He didn't budge, though. He knew better than to fall for the oldest trick in the book.

"JOHN! PLEASE! HURRY!"

He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the sting of tears. He hoped with every cell of his being that he was right.


	7. Chapter 7

Cameron's eyes grew wide when she heard her own voice come from the triple eight. She had been extra careful not to make a single sound. How did it know her voice?

"JOHN, PLEASE HURRY! I NEED YOU!"

Cameron slowly picked herself up out of the debris. Her HUD told her she had several injuries, a damaged right leg being the worst of it. The triple eight started for the stairs, and she began to panic. With a damaged leg, she ran as fast as she could and tackled it. She managed to slice his scalp with her knife before being tossed off. It tried to step on her neck, but she rolled out from under his foot just in time.

"DON'T LISTEN TO…" Cameron was silenced by a piece of staircase banister smashing across her face.

Cameron could feel her body reacting more emotionally now. She tried to keep it in check to be more effective, but it wasn't working. She was feeling fear, knowing she was outmatched with no real way of stopping the triple eight in the house. She was also feeling quite angry. She lost half her speed with a damaged leg. Speed she sorely needed against the size and strength of the larger machine.

When the triple eight came at her again, there wasn't much she could do to stop it. She went with the force of the impact and rolled, managing to land herself on top of him. Rather than go for the port this time, she stabbed it in the eye, effectively half blinding it.

Using his own weight and strength to push her off, the triple eight pinned Cameron to the ground, digging his knee into her back and grabbing her right arm, busting the elbow and dislocating the shoulder joint.

***************************************

* * *

John knew the last voice was Cameron's. There was a true panic behind it that a regular machine couldn't imitate. He clutched the gun tighter as the tears freely fell down his face.

There was another series of loud thuds, and the sound of something cracking.

That was it. He couldn't sit there hiding anymore. Did the future leader of the resistance sit hiding in a closet?

Absolutely not. John stood up and opened the closet door. Quickly checking the room, he reached down and pulled Savannah up, putting his finger to his lips in a hushing gesture.

They hurried as fast as they could to the hallway. John opened the bathroom door, where Dani was sitting on the edge of the tub, clean and dressed in fresh clothes. He pushed Savannah into the tiny room and tossed Dani the shotgun. "Two shots," he said. "Don't miss."

Closing the door before the woman could object, he pulled out his switch blade, which he knew would be essentially useless, but regardless it made him feel a little better having it in his hands. He just wished it could have been a gun instead.

He made it halfway down the steps before seeing Cameron's body fly by, literally airborne. He pressed himself flat against the wall as the triple eight stalked by, evidently intent on continuing his barrage on Cameron.

There wasn't much John could do. Looking around, he saw the entire house was trashed. There wasn't much that could be used for anything, let alone fighting a terminator.

He heard someone get body slammed yet again.

_Think, Connor, THINK_.

His eyes stopped on the red fire extinguisher still managing to dangle from the wall. Jumping over the pieces of broken banister, he unhooked it from the wall.

_Right. Now what the hell are you going to do with it?_

He didn't really have time to ponder ninja fire extinguisher techniques, as Cameron came flying into the kitchen, crushing the last of the chairs.

"Okay, that's it." John pulled the pin on the extinguisher and extended the hose. "HEY! OVER HERE!"

The terminator paused in its advance towards Cameron's emotionless form. Its one remaining eye registered the figure in the doorway.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm John Connor."

The triple eight only got one step before John sprayed the extinguisher. It wasn't a T1000 frozen effect of course, but it still effectively blinded it. It took a step backwards, and stumbled over the debris.

Quickly, he turned to help Cameron to her feet. "Are you all right?"

"I'm not 100%."

John's gut clenched, remembering what that meant the last time. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the triple eight attempting to sit up and sprayed him once again in the face.

Avoiding its stumbling, yet still dangerous form, John ran forward and swung the extinguisher like a bat, cracking the terminator in the head.

"UUUUUGGGGHHHH" John almost dropped the extinguisher, as the force of metal against metal vibrated up his arm. He stumbled back and ran right into Cameron.

"Okay, bad idea."

"John…" Cameron held out her good hand and took the extinguisher off of him. It was obvious John's blow at least shook it up enough that it was confused. Avoiding his flailing hands, she put in one good swing, knocking it offline.

Wasting no time, Cameron knelt down beside it. The flesh over the port was already half cut by her, so she simply tore it the rest of the way off with her hands. John was pulling the tool kit out from under the sink and digging through the bag.

"Screwdriver," he said, tossing it in her general direction.

He heard the port cap pop off as he found the pliers. "Pliers." This time, he actually walked over to hand it to her, and watched her pull the chip out.

They stared at it in Cameron's hand, both glad it remained in one piece.

She handed it to John and stood up, glancing around at the total disaster.

"Sarah is not going to be very happy."

John wasn't looking at the kitchen. He didn't really give a damn about it. He was looking Cameron up and down, noticing every cut, scrape, and apparently damaged limb.

"She'll get over it." He gently touched her right arm, running his hand down from shoulder to wrist, feeling the busted joint. "My God Cameron… how bad is it?"

"I'll get over it."

John glanced up to Cameron's face, but she avoided his gaze. It hurt that she felt she couldn't even look at him. The whole situation, from Dani to terminator, wasn't his freaking fault. Somehow though, he had to fix it all.

"Cameron…"

John was interrupted by the front door crashing open. "John! JOHN!"

"In here, mom!"

Sarah ran into the kitchen, leaping over broken furniture everywhere. "Oh my God, are you all right? Where's Savannah?"

John picked his way around the broken table to hug his mother. "I'm fine mom, Savannah's upstairs in the bathroom with Dani. They're okay. The only one of us who's hurt is Cameron."

Sarah looked at Cameron, and was surprised to feel genuine concern. "Are you all right?"

"I have several damages. I will need to use the triple eight's endo to repair myself." She looked at Sarah, as if to challenge her. She knew she preferred to burn them as soon as possible.

But Sarah simply nodded. "That's fine. Just take it downstairs. We'll get rid of it when you're done." She looked around the kitchen as if for the first time. "Now what the hell are we going to do with this mess?" Derek, who had been standing in the living room staring through the now missing wall, was the first to answer.

"As long as the refrigerator is still there, and my beer is unharmed, I'm okay to go."

It broke the tension in the situation, as everyone managed to chuckle. "I'm going to go check on Savannah," Sarah said, but as she turned to walk out, she ran right into Dani.

"Oh, sorry ma'am, is everything all right now?" Dani cautiously walked down the steps and into the kitchen. "Holy hell, looks like a herd of rhinos ran through here."

What happened next shocked everyone. There was a loud crunch as Cameron's fist made contact with Dani's face.

Dani fell to the ground, nearly unconscious, groaning in pain as blood dripped out of her mouth.

"You lead it here." Cameron picked her up by the front of the shirt and lifted her off the ground.

"It's your fault. You almost killed John." She threw her against one of the remaining walls and watched her collapse to the floor.

Dani covered her face with her arms. "I don't know what you're talking about! Please!"

"Cameron…" John reached out and grabbed her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. Approaching Dani, she lifted her up again and held her against the wall.

"It followed you here. Where did you go? How did it find you?"

Dani was bawling in fear and pain. "I don't know! I just went back to where I used to sleep at night. I don't know how it found me! I swear I didn't know! I would never bring metal on the Connors! I would die first!"

"You should die."

"CAMERON!" John had to yell to get her attention. He knew there was more than just a terminator fueling the fire.

Cameron glanced over her shoulder, displeasure clearly written on her face.

John placed his hand on her back. "Please… enough damage was done for one night."

He didn't miss the flash of hurt that crossed her face. "You and I can discuss together how to deal with her. And I promise…" John glared at Dani meaningfully. "She will be dealt with."

Cameron seemed to consider this, and decided it was satisfactory. She dropped Dani unceremoniously and watched her once again crumple to the ground.

John took her hand, and held tighter when he felt her try to pull away. "Let's get this thing downstairs, and you fixed up, okay?" He led her into the kitchen, and slowly, they managed to half carry, half drag the machine down to the basement.

Sarah had gone upstairs to take care of Savannah, and Derek simply stood there glaring at Dani, a beer already in his hand.

"I don't know what you did, but I know you did something…"

Dani slowly got to her feet. "I swear, Derek. I didn't know. You know me."

"I wasn't talking about the metal, and yeah, I do know you. That's why I know you did something. And whatever that something is… you had better fix it. Because if she doesn't kick your ass…" Derek nodded towards the basement. "I will. Lord knows you have it coming." He reached into the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen peas, and tossed it to her. "Put that on your face. She has an awesome left hook, and it's already showing."

*******************************

* * *

John and Cameron dropped the triple eight on the floor by the wall.

"Okay, we should probably start on your arm first, that looks like it has the most damage."

"I can fix it myself. You don't have to."

John sighed. "I know you can fix it yourself, Cam, but as long as I'm around you'll never have to. Come on…" He took her hand and led her over to the bed. "I think we're going to have to cut off your shirt."

Cameron looked at her dislocated shoulder. "Yes, it's the only way to get it off."

John smirked, trying to lighten the mood. "Under normal circumstances, that would be an incredibly hot thing to do. Oh, oh oh oh… don't you even dare try to pretend like you didn't just smile. I so busted you."

"I did not smile," Cameron pouted.

"Yes, you did," he said, pointing an accusing finger.

"It was a twitch."

John snorted. "A twitch my ass."

He started digging through the tool box they kept downstairs, mostly containing the stuff needed for Cameron's repairs, which they hadn't needed since… before.

Cameron watched him quietly. She was still upset with him, and the tension between them was uncomfortable. She would have preferred to do her own repair, but she wouldn't tell John no, and it was easier to have help anyway. It would be good practice for him, too.

There was a quiet knock on the door. "Come in," she called, and immediately regretted it when Dani walked down the steps.

"Um, I'm sorry. I just, um, thought you could use the first aid kit," she said, without looking at either one of them.

Cameron took the box from her. "Thank you. You can leave now."

John had to bite his tongue. For some reason, when Cameron was being a bitch to anyone but him, it was just plain funny.

Dani didn't move, though. She stood awkwardly a good six feet away from them, and shoved her hands in her jeans.

"Um, listen… Cameron… I need to apologize." John cleared his throat and stood up. "I'm gonna go get some more tools." He made a quick escape up the stairs, leaving the two women alone to duke it out themselves.

Dani shuffled her feet uncomfortably. "What happened the other day… that was my fault, not John's. I came on to him, and he refused." She was blushing profusely, but she chanced a glance at Cameron, whose stone-like face simply stared back emotionless. "I'm not used to being refused. I didn't like it. I just kept pushing, and I crossed the line way too far. What you saw the other day was me crossing that line, and John trying to get rid of me. He had nothing to do with it. He was simply trying to get me to leave. You just walked in at the wrong time…"

Cameron just stared at her blankly, not giving any of her thoughts away. Dani's story added up with what John had told her in the voicemail, as well as her bitch-whore personality to begin with. For some reason though, she wasn't quite ready to give in.

"Thank you for explaining. You can go now."

Dani shook her head and started for the steps, but stopped midway and turned back around. "You know… he never, ever cheated on you… ever." She left Cameron sitting on the bed, analyzing the implications of what she just said.

*************

* * *

When he saw Dani come back upstairs, John returned to his room, carrying a pair of scissors.

"Are we ready?" He asked, snipping the scissors a few times for dramatic effect.

Cameron nodded and laid back on the bed.

John lifted the bottom of her shirt and started cutting. "You know, regardless, this is actually still kinda sexy."

Cameron raised an eyebrow. "I think you're demented."

John cracked up. "Being chased by killer machines all your life will do that to anyone." He made the final cut and pushed the fabric away. "Okay, shoulder first. Will we need parts for that?"

Cameron ran an analysis. "No, it's repairable."

"Alrighty then… let's do this."

Repairable or not, there was quite a bit of damage. John worked for half an hour straight in near silence. Cameron never spoke a word, she simply moved her arm as directed, and nodded yes or no.

John tightened yet another bolt. He could fix her arm, but he was going to have to work on fixing her inside.

He decided an apology would be a good start. "Cameron… I'm sorry about everything."

Cameron turned her head and regarded him. "This is not your fault. You did not break my arm."

John just gave her a look. He knew she knew what he was talking about, but if that's how it was going to be… he'd play along.

"Well, technically, if I wouldn't have been too busy hiding in closets, I would have been a lot more help to you. You probably wouldn't have gotten hurt so bad."

"I told you to hide, John. It was the right thing to do."

John just shook his head. "It's never right to leave the woman I love behind to fight off the big scary terminators for me all alone." He looked up to catch Cameron glancing away.

"You should not have come downstairs. It was too dangerous. You could have been killed."

"So could you."

"I'm a machine, John, I…"

"I don't care what you are, goddammit. You mean more to me than anything else in the world, do you understand that? Don't you ever forget that." His eyes bored into hers for a long moment, before finally turning back to his work. "Besides, what kind of legendary hero would I be if I didn't come running downstairs to rescue my damsel in distress?"

"A smart one."

John sighed in exasperation. "Cam…"

"You should not take unnecessary risks, John."

John reached up and grabbed her chin. "You do not qualify as unnecessary." When Cameron did her best not to make further eye contact, John put down the tools and turned her entire body to face him.

"Cameron… I know I hurt you. What happened was as much Dani's fault as mine. I probably should have been more stern with her, meaner, or something. I don't know."

Cameron pulled out of John's grasp and stood up. "Well when you figure it out, let me know. I'll be upstairs having Sarah stitch my shoulder." Almost as if it was an afterthought, she tested her shoulder out, rotating it in all directions. "Thank you for fixing it. It's functioning at 100% now."

John watched her walk upstairs, not having a single clue how to fix a terminator's heart.

**************************************

* * *

"Is it really all fixed?" Sarah pulled the needle through Cameron's skin, making another tight stitch.

"Yes. It's not actually quite at 100%, but once the rest of the arm is fixed, I can make fine tune adjustments, and then it'll work perfectly."

Sarah nodded, concentrating on her stitch work. "So, why isn't John doing this?"

"He needed a rest."

Sarah glanced up. "Did he decide that, or did you?"

Cameron didn't answer. She glanced at her shoulder and the half closed incision. "You do not have to make the stitches so neat. I will not scar."

Sarah ignored her and pushed the needle through once more. "So are you going to tell me what happened between you two, or do I have to ask the innocent child who sees all and knows all?"

Cameron wasn't sure if telling Sarah was a good idea. But on the other hand, she thought perhaps she might have better advice than _Cosmo, _so she related the whole story to her from he beginning.

"Yeah, you're right, he should have known better. But in his defense, as his mother… it's John. As bright as he may be, when it comes to girls, he's about as dumb as a box of rocks." _Then again,_ Sarah thought to herself. _Depending on the type of rocks… they might have him beat._

"So you're saying I should forgive him?" Cameron asked, watching her stitch the last of the incision closed.

Sarah was momentarily quiet, deciding how to answer. She had a feeling Cameron was counting on her opinion a lot more than she was letting on.

"I'm saying… you should give him a chance. Don't fault him for his past… or future, however you look at it, mistakes." Sarah quirked an eyebrow at the slightly guilty look on Cameron's face. "Uh huh. And don't punish him for things he didn't do. If he says nothing happened between them, then I believe him, and you should too. Trust is more important than anything else in a relationship."

"I trust him." Cameron tilted her head slightly. "I just… I think I'm mad at him, and I don't know why. I know it wasn't his fault, and I know nothing happened, but I'm mad at him still."

Sarah bit back a grin as she wrapped a bandage around Cameron's shoulder and secured it with a strip of tape. "Yeah, well, I can't fault you for that. I'd be pretty mad too. At both of them."

Cameron looked at Sarah, and with all sincerity asked, "What do I do?"

Sarah paused in repacking the first aid kit. She sat back down on her bed next to Cameron and rested her arms on her thighs. She wasn't quite sure why she was offering a terminator advice, but just looking at Cameron… even though she just saw the metal of her arm… it felt as if she was looking at a normal teenage girl, asking for her mother's advice about boy problems. She didn't have a daughter she ever got to share advice with, and John had never asked her about girl trouble. When he did go through that stage, he was lucky to have Charlie around, and didn't want to ask his mom about girls.

It was weird… but so was the rest of her damn life.

Sarah smiled conspiratorially. "What do you do? Rule number one, when a man fucks up and he knows it…"

*******************

* * *

Cameron found John still in the basement, kneeling over the deactivated triple eight.

"What are you doing?"

John looked up, a little relieved Cameron had decided to come back downstairs. He half suspected her to go hiding in the shed to fix her arm herself.

"Well, we're going to need some parts to fix your arm, won't we?"

Cameron knelt down beside him and saw that he had already pulled off the skin from the terminator's arm and placed it in several plastic bags.

"You did not have to do this. I understand it can be, what is the word… queasy?... for humans to do this kind of thing."

John's stomach was fluttering a little, but he ignored it. "Yeah well, it had to be done. And it would have been a little difficult for you to do it one-handed." He stood up and went into the laundry room to wash his hands in the tub.

Cameron looked at the skinned arm thoughtfully. Already, it seemed Sarah was proven right. She heard someone come down the steps and turned to see Derek walking downstairs with two beers.

"Hey, please tell me one of those are for me," John said, coming out of the laundry room drying his hands on a towel.

"Nah, I prefer one in each hand," Derek joked, handing his nephew a beer. "Listen… I didn't want to say anything in front of Sarah yet. The woman's a loose cannon, and lord only knows what she'll do when she finds out. I just thought it'd be better to let her relax for a bit before telling her…"

"Telling her what, Derek," John asked.

"Well… that that terminator…"

"Came from the resistance camp?" John suppled.

Derek looked surprised, and Cameron just frankly looked impressed. "Yeah, I'm not always stupid. I figured that one out for myself. Unless Skynet has a Caminator voice file backup… he had to have heard her voice somewhere."

Derek took a swig of his beer. "Well, so, yeah. Anyway… it's from Connor camp. I definitely recognize it. I'm not sure if Dani actually saw it, but I'm sure she would too."

"The question is," Cameron finally spoke up. "Who sent it?"

"Well, there's only two possibilities," Derek said. "When we left, it was still working for us. So either one of our own people sent it back to kill John and all the others, or Skynet recaptured it and sent it back."

John pulled out his cell phone. "Well, I guess we'll give John Henry something to look for on the chip. Speaking of… what happened to Catherine?"

Derek shrugged. "Probably still hanging out in my front yard pretending to be a tree branch or something. I suppose we should call and let her know we found it. Or, it found us… Oh and by the way, we need to get your mom a new phone."

John gave Derek a funny look. "Why? That one's practically brand new."

"Um… she kinda got really pissed at me, and scared we wouldn't get to you on time… and um, crushed the damn thing right in her bare hand."

John exchanged a shocked look with Cameron. "What the hell did you do?"

**************************************

* * *

"Close your hand… okay, now move every finger individually… good." John sat back and wiped his forehead. He'd just spent well over two hours fixing Cameron's arm. It wasn't as bad as she thought it was, but they did need several pieces from the triple eight. John was afraid the endoskeleton size difference was going to be a problem, but Cameron had assured him that the joint pieces were all relatively the same and compatible, for situations such as this one.

"Thank you, John. I know you're tired, I can stitch it up myself."

"I'm fine, I caught a second wind here. That pizza mom ordered kicked in well."

John in fact was exhausted, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He was sure she knew as well, and was surprised she wasn't arguing.

"So, what do you want for your birthday?"

Cameron looked confused. "I don't have a birthday."

"Yeah you do, remember? The day you infiltrated my camp and I reprogrammed you. The fourth of July… that's in a couple days."

"Oh," Cameron thought about it. "There is nothing I need or want."

"Oh, come on," John smiled. "There's gotta be something you want."

Savannah had asked what she should get Cameron for her birthday at breakfast the previous week, and Sarah had decided that since it would in normal situations be rude not to get her anything, that it wouldn't be a very good example to Savannah if she were to not get her anything either. So she had just told John to pick up something and put her name on it.

Which was perfectly fine, since it was way more than John expected from his mom anyway. So he picked out a purple iPod and got headphones to match it. He figured with her own, she wouldn't keep stealing his and adding girly music to it.

"I do not know, John."

"Hmm… well, you know it doesn't have to be a thing. It could be anything. We could go somewhere, or do something…"

"Why don't you just make it a surprise? It's more fun that way."

John grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, I'm going to surprise you all right."


	8. Chapter 8

John lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The house was quiet, as everyone had decided to just go to bed and start the enormous clean-up effort in the morning.

He was alone, too. Cameron was on high alert, guarding the perimeter after the surprise attack. She doubted another terminator would randomly show up again, but she evidently wasn't taking chances. John was actually surprised Sarah didn't just make them pack up and run already.

There was just too much that happened, and too much to think about for John to fall asleep, although he was tired as hell. He had tried counting ceiling tiles, even did some sit-ups to try to wear himself out, but it didn't work. He just laid there wide awake, thinking about how much his life completely imploded in the past three days.

And what the hell was he going to do with Dani? He had to do something, though. He was afraid if he let it go this time, it would just happen again.

And he was sure Cameron was never going to let it go…

So.

John turned his head when he heard the basement door squeak open. _Ah, speak of the devil._

Cameron walked down the steps, drenched head to toe. John raised his eyebrows in question.

"I got caught in the rain," she said. "Would you mind if I did not go back out tonight?"

John gave her a strange look, wondering why she was genuinely asking him if he minded. "Why the hell would I? Get out of those wet clothes before you… well, before you soak the carpet," he finished lamely. Terminators didn't catch colds.

Cameron did as she was told, exchanging her soaked clothes for a pair of her Victoria's Secret dry yoga pants and one of John's old t-shirts. It made him smile that she chose one of his shirts. He knew she never made a clothing decision lightly; everything was always meticulously thought out; even pajamas.

It was because of this evidently mushy decision that John was surprised when Cameron ignored him and started for the steps. "Hey, where are you going?" He asked, patting the bed beside him.

Cameron stopped and turned back around. "My hair is wet. I should dry it."

"Oh. Well it looks fine. It's already starting to dry."

Cameron stood a bit awkwardly in silence. In truth, she wanted to go upstairs to let John sleep. She didn't think he would want her to stay with him tonight, and even if so, she wasn't sure if she herself really wanted to. The feelings she was having towards him were confusing her greatly.

On one hand she was still upset at the situation and wanted to just walk away and leave him alone; but on the other hand… she really missed John. She missed the way he would smile at her and how it made her feel unexpectedly warm all over. She missed talking to him until he fell asleep, and his gentle caresses that simply made her _feel_. She missed her only friend.

Cameron thought about what Sarah had told her.

_Rule number one, when a man fucks up and he knows it, he'll apologize, try to pretend it didn't happen, behave extra sweetly, buy you flowers, beg for forgiveness, blame you, pout a lot, act extra grumpy… it all depends on the man and the situation. If it's a reaction that works in your favor, such as flowers and doing the dishes without asking, milk it for all it's worth, but don't over do it. If he's an asshole about it, ignore him._

John was already proving this rule correct. Normally, he would have never skinned the terminator. He couldn't even stand to be in the room while she did it before.

_Rule number two: regardless of his behavior, you never let him off the hook too soon. _

That was where she wasn't sure what to do. If she stayed downstairs with John, would that make him think he was off the hook? Would it just allow a repeat of the situation?

_Rule number three: never keep him in the dog house for too long. _

Cameron wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but she thought she had gist of it. Problem was, how did she know if it was too long or too soon?

If she were human, Cameron would have sighed dramatically. As it was, her shoulders visibly slumped. Boys were so complicated. She had a lot to learn.

John scooted over and lifted the covers. "Come on, you look cold."

"I'm all right, it's comfortably warm now." Cameron watched John's face fall a bit, and he dropped the covers listlessly. She processed the action and realized he was just trying to get her to lay down with him. She made her decision and smiled gently.

"But I do detect a cool draft that might make you chilled, dressed only in your underwear as you are." She made her way over to the bed and lifted up the covers before sliding underneath them. "I will have to make sure _you_ stay warm, and don't catch a cold."

John smiled, and snaking his arm around her waist, tugged her closer. "How is it that all the other terminators are cold, but you manage to stay warm?"

"Skynet secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you," she said with a mischievous smile, but it slowly faded away. "Not all of me is warm though. You felt it yourself."

John remembered. It was an odd sensation. His hand deep in her chest; the rest of her body warm, but the nuclear power cell was nearly freezing.

"That's okay. You're warm where it counts.

"And your hand is ice cold."

"Oh, sorry." He retracted his hand from where it had found soft skin under her shirt. He settled for resting it on her hip and gazed at her affectionately. "Does this mean you're not mad at me any more?"

Cameron was still trying to figure that out herself. It obviously bothered her to think about it, but she was no longer emotionally overreacting and feeling so negative towards John. "I don't know. Maybe."

John sighed. "What do I have to do to make it up to you?"

_Rule number one…_ Cameron smiled. "You can do my laundry, dishes for two weeks, and clean all the weapons."

John rolled his eyes. He knew his mother was behind this particular idea.

"You will also be on upstairs cleaning duty with Derek while Sarah and I go out for the supplies we will need to start repairing the house tomorrow."

John groaned. "And here all this time I thought you loved me… is that all?" he asked sarcastically.

Cameron's face was suddenly very serious. "You can make sure it doesn't ever happen again."

John reached over and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "I promise. You know I'd die before I ever did anything to intentionally hurt you. And that's the truth"

Cameron tore her gaze away from his and studied the pattern on the sheets with feigned interest. "I know I overreacted. I've played the moment over and over, and I've concluded my actions were illogical. I do not know why I behaved in such a way, or why I am even still upset about it. It does not make any sense."

John tilted her chin up and forced her to look at him. "For one, you're still learning about your emotions, and how to deal with them. Everyone has overreacted at some point in their lives. It happens. I've overreacted plenty of times. And to be honest, I'm not sure I would have behaved any different if the situation was reversed."

It was true. While rare, there were plenty of times she had witnessed even future John overreacting to a situation.

"So forget about it, relax, and tell me what you'd like to do about Dani… except anything else physical of course. I think you may have broken her face."

Cameron couldn't help but grin. "She deserved it."

John chuckled. "I don't disagree, but still…"

"You should make the decision yourself, John. You're the General. This will be good practice for you."

Of course it would be. John yawned and closed his eyes, snuggling closer to Cameron. "Fine. General Connor will make his official disciplinary decision in the morning."

It was quiet for a few moments before Cameron spoke again. "I think it stopped raining. I should…"

"You're not going anywhere."

"But…"

"That's an order."

**********************************

* * *

Savannah woke early as usual and poked her head outside her door. There weren't any of the usual morning sounds, and she assumed nobody else was awake yet. Sarah's bedroom door, which was usually open in the mornings, was still closed.

She tiptoed to the bathroom to relieve herself and rake a comb through her snarled hair. She wasn't sure what she should do. After last night, she was actually still a little scared. Sarah had read to her until she fell asleep, but now there was nobody around. She couldn't play quietly in her room either, as Dani was sleeping and snoring rather loudly on her floor.

She glanced down the steps and saw the massive destruction below. Making her way carefully down the steps to avoid stepping on any errant splinters, she glanced around the house in shock. The banister was completely shattered, there were gigantic holes in the walls, and the kitchen furniture was smashed into pieces. There was no way she was going to be able to pick her way through the kitchen in her slippers.

She hoped Cameron was okay. She didn't get to see her last night, but Sarah said she was all right. Looking around at the amount of destruction though, she was rather doubtful.

She glanced at the basement door that was left slightly ajar. She knew Cameron didn't sleep. Savannah had woken up several times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and most of the time Cameron would hear her and go upstairs to tuck her back in.

She wondered if Cameron was downstairs this morning. The door was open, so she knew it was safe to sneak down.

Cameron heard the moment Savannah crawled out of bed. She knew it was probably best to get up and take care of her, but getting out of bed herself would probably wake John, who was currently clutching her in a ridiculously tight grasp. She kept her eyes closed (John hated when she watched him sleep) until she heard the girl walk over to the bed and stand in front of her.

"Morning Savannah. Is everything all right?" she whispered.

Savannah didn't answer. She was staring at Cameron's mottled right arm. The bandage had gotten soaked the previous night, and she didn't bother replacing it.

"You got hurt real bad?" Savannah asked, pouting.

Cameron shook her head and moved her arm. "No, it's okay. John fixed it," she whispered. "See?"

Savannah looked doubtful. "Does it hurt?"

Cameron wasn't sure how to answer. She could feel pain; she was covered in real flesh and "neural" sensors after all. She could feel pain as much as she could feel the pleasure of John's caresses. She just did not experience it in the exact same way humans did. It did hurt, and was uncomfortable, but she had the ability to ignore it. Humans would call it pain tolerance. It was similar; a trick of the brain to ignore the pain. Cameron simply sent a command to ignore the discomfort.

"It hurts a little," Cameron stated truthfully. "But it's not that bad. It'll be okay."

Savannah nodded, and continued to stand there. Cameron wasn't sure what she wanted.

"Is there something wrong?"

Savannah shook her head slowly, and surprised Cameron by sliding into bed beside her.

Cameron just lay there confused. She had no idea why Savannah climbed into bed with them. She thought it was rather odd behavior. But when Savannah snuggled up closer to her, she understood.

Just like John, she simply needed comforted. She'd been thrust into terrifying situations that no eight-year-old should have to experience. She was handling them quite impressively, but she was still just a child.

Cameron brushed the girl's hair away from her face, much like John would do to her. She kissed her on the forehead and hugged her close, feeling the girl relax in her arms.

********************

* * *

Sarah dumped another bucket of dirty mop water out in the back yard and wiped her forehead. It was late afternoon, and she was exhausted. They'd gotten the kitchen cleared out, and overall, there wasn't as much damage as they thought. They just knocked the rest of the useless wall out between the living room and kitchen, and the rest was broken furniture. The biggest effort had to go into cleaning all the dust, dirt, and splinters that seemed to have exploded everywhere.

She rubbed her lower back as she waited for the bucket to refill again. Dani was still in a hell of a lot of pain, so she was basically babysitting out in the back yard. A small blessing, as there wasn't much for an 8 year old to do to safely help.

Sarah glanced out the kitchen window. Dani had also been a little more depressed than would have been expected. She and John had a private, serious chat earlier that morning. Sarah didn't know what was said, but she knew whatever it was had left Dani completely dejected, and close to tears.

Derek was fixing the staircase banister, and Cameron was puttying a head-sized hole in the living room wall. John had disappeared and reappeared all day long. She knew he was up to something, but what she didn't know. Right now he was holding a piece of banister in place for Derek. In other words, staring at Cameron's rear end as she bent down to wipe her hands on an old rag.

Sarah rolled her eyes and turned off the water. If she ever got to meet him, she had a few choice words for the elder General Connor. For one… next time send another Uncle Bob.

She lifted the bucket out of the sink, but suddenly, the world was spinning around her.

She was vaguely aware of arms clutching her, keeping her steady. She blinked a few times, trying to get the world to stop moving.

"Mom! MOM! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, John." She pulled away and leaned against the counter. What the hell had just happened?

John glanced at Cameron, who'd rushed in a second after him, hoping she could help.

"You haven't eaten in seven hours, and you're dehydrated," Cameron stated seriously. "You need to go sit down. We'll get you something to eat."

"I'm fine," Sarah protested.

"Mom, don't make me have her carry you upstairs," John said in a no-nonsense tone.

"Ugh, I just got dizzy all right? Relax!" She pushed away from the counter and headed for the living room, carefully walking through the massive amount of spilled water from her dropped bucket.

John took his mother's spot leaning against the counter and sighed worriedly. "Cam... is she…?"

Cameron mimicked John's posture beside him. "I should tell you…"

**************************

* * *

John took a bottle of water and a plate of leftover pizza into the living room and set them on the coffee table in front of his mother. He sat down on the couch next to her and reached for her hand.

"Hey… are you sure you're all right?"

Sarah turned her head to look at her son. "Yeah, just too much I guess. I should know better. Kinda stupid…"

"Eh, chill. We were all busy. None of us had really eaten. Shit happens."

"Yeah well… I should probably take a lot more care of myself than I do, considering…" she swallowed audibly and glanced away.

John sighed. "Mom… you're going to be all right. You're not sick."

Sarah turned her head so fast she almost gave herself whiplash.

"Cameron said you must've just lost all that weight from stress. She's been monitoring you closely. You've gained almost all of it back, and um…" John blushed slightly. "She said your body has been functioning just as it should."

Actually, she had said Sarah finally started menstruating again. Evidently she had stopped, which was why when she got sick coming home from Mexico, Cameron asked if she was pregnant.

"So…" Sarah started. It was such good news, she was almost afraid to believe it.

"You're not sick. I mean, at least not yet I guess… You were supposed to die of leukemia in 2005. We left in 1999. So, technically, you still had 6 years to live from the time we got to this time. If… and that is if… you do get leukemia, then technically you have until about 2013… assuming things pretty much go the same. But I don't see anything biologically changing, you know?" John wasn't quite sure if this was exactly comforting, but he wasn't really sure what to say.

"Well…" Sarah sighed. "I suppose then that explains how I had stuck around so long when you went to the future, huh?" Sarah was both relieved and scared at the same time. Relieved that she wasn't sick, that she still had a chance and more time. But scared that she pretty much knew when and how she was going to die. It wasn't something anyone really wanted to know.

"Yeah," John cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Hey we all need a break once in a while. Tomorrow's the Fourth of July. We could have a picnic or something."

Sarah gave her son a look like he'd lost his mind, but was glad of the subject change. "A picnic?"

John shrugged. " Yeah why not? We can fire up the grill, eat out on the back porch… seeing as that's the only table we have left now… and maybe go catch some fireworks somewhere."

Picnic. Fireworks. It had its possibilities. "Picnic huh? I thought you and Tin Miss would have some sort of plans for her birthday or whatever."

"Well…" John lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I do, but they're for tomorrow night."

"Oh, God John!" Sarah groaned, covering her ears with her hands. "Please don't share that kind of information with your mother."

John was momentarily confused before finally catching on. "NO! No, no… I meant, I plan on taking her out tomorrow night," he whispered.

"Oh... I take it she doesn't know about this?"

John shook his head. "Nope. She wanted a surprise… she's going to get one."

*********************************

* * *

Derek threw yet another match onto the charcoal and watched it burn out almost instantly.

"Son of a bitch. Easy-light my ass."

When Sarah told him he was in charge of the grill, he'd been kind of excited. It was the man's job to barbecue, and he took his job seriously. After all, the fourth of July was always a big deal when he was a kid. His dad had always grilled hot dogs and burgers while they burned sparklers in the back yard. It was turning out to be a lot more frustrating than he anticipated though.

He grabbed a can of lighter fluid and began liberally pouring it over the coals.

"You do not need to use fluid," Cameron said, carrying out dishes and placing them on the patio table.

"The bag lies," Derek said, closing the bottle of lighter fluid.

Cameron walked over to the grill and saw how much he used. "You used too much."

"Nah…" Derek grabbed the box of matches. "It'll burn off quickly. Watch."

Cameron quickly stepped back about 30 feet as Derek lit another match.

********************

* * *

The Connor clan sat at the patio picnic table listening to a few neighbors light backyard fireworks. Despite the occasional explosive noise, dinner was actually passing quite enjoyably.

At least for those who could actually enjoy it. Dani's face was so swollen she could barely chew, and she simply had to resort to sucking a protein shake through a straw… a Cameron concoction John was sure probably tasted like it had already passed through the human digestive system.

"How's your arm, Derek?" John asked, grinning around his hot dog.

Derek flipped him off and took a bite of macaroni salad. He glanced at his own arm and cringed.

"I told him he should not have used so much lighter fluid," Cameron said matter-of-factly."

Derek mocked her, causing Savannah to giggle.

"I wouldn't worry," Sarah said. "I'm sure your eyebrows will grow back…"

Even Dani laughed, wincing a bit at the pain it caused.

"Sure, laugh it up. Maybe I poisoned all your hot dogs."

Suddenly, Cameron snatched John's hot dog out of his hand.

"Hey, what the hell?"

Cameron took a bite of the hot dog and froze. John could see her eyes twitching, and just a hint of blue.

"Cam…"

Another moment passed before she finished chewing the bite and swallowed. She handed John his hot dog back. "There is no poison. Only a faint taste of lighter fluid, but it should not be dangerous."

Everyone stared at her.

"Um, he was only joking hon," John said quietly, patting Cameron's thigh.

"Retard." Dani mumbled under her breath.

"Oh…" Cameron actually looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, we have brownies and ice cream for dessert," Sarah said, breaking the awkward moment. "Who wants to get this little party started?"

************************

* * *

The family sang happy birthday, atrociously off key, and let Cameron blow out the few candles in the brownies.

"Can we start with the presents now?" John asked around a mouthful of vanilla ice cream.

"In a hurry or something?" Sarah asked with a knowing grin.

John just gave her a warning look.

"Yeah, let's start," Derek agreed. He reached under his chair and pulled out a badly wrapped cylindrical present. "Here ya go, ma'am."

Cameron took the package cautiously and unwrapped the paper, revealing a can of WD-40.

"Really, Derek?" John asked, shaking his head.

His uncle was shaking with laughter. "Hey, it prevents rust, and is a great lubricant. Keeps the squeaks out." He cracked himself up even more.

Cameron glanced between the bottle and Derek. "Lubricant? Sounds like you might need this more than I do."

Sarah let out a loud cackle, and John bent over in laughter; even Dani covered her face, her shoulders shaking. Savannah sat quietly, not having a clue what was so funny.

Derek just shook his head and pointed to John. "You let her read those horrid magazines. It's all your fault."

"Oh, no," John said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I have nothing to do with that."

"Can I give her mine now?" Savannah asked impatiently.

"Sure sweetie," Sarah said, taking a long swig of beer, trying to calm down.

Savannah scrambled out of her chair and skipped around the table. She pulled something colorful out of her pocket.

"It's a bracelet. I made it," she said, holding up her gift for Cameron to see.

It was an impressively woven bracelet made of purple, white, and red colored floss.

"It's beautiful, Savannah." Cameron was genuinely impressed. "Where did you learn to make it?"

Savannah grinned from ear to ear. "My friend at my old school taught me. We used to make friendship bracelets all the time. Do you want it to put it on?"

"Absolutely," Cameron smiled, and held out her right hand. Savannah tied it securely around her wrist and watched Cameron admire it closely.

John smiled and glanced across the table, catching a strange look on both his uncle's and Dani's faces.

"Derek," he mumbled to catch his attention. When his uncle looked at him, he raised an eyebrow in question.

Derek whispered, "The bracelet. She wore it in the future. Never saw her without it. Never knew what it was or where it came from, either."

John felt a shiver run up his spine.

"Thank you, Savannah," Cameron smiled. She leaned forward and kissed the girl on the cheek.

"Here…" Sarah said, handing Cameron two small boxes. "You have to open the bigger one first or it won't make sense."

Cameron did as she was told, and revealed a brand new purple iPod. She smiled brightly, and unexpectedly stood up. She walked over to Sarah and gave the woman an awkward hug.

Sarah froze, not at all comfortable with receiving public affection from terminators.

"Thank you Sarah," Cameron said sincerely, letting the poor woman go. "Purple is my favorite."

Sarah snorted. "One would never guess…"

Cameron opened the smaller package to reveal the matching ear buds.

"The ones that come with the iPod suck," John supplied. "These ones have a wider decibel range."

Cameron smiled. She knew the whole thing was probably his idea anyway, having shown frustration at discovering Britney Spears and Chopin on his own iPod.

"And this…" John said, pulling out an envelope. "… is from me."

Cameron opened the envelope and pulled out several items. There were two rectangular pieces of paper and a smaller piece of plastic. She picked up the paper first and read closely.

A feeling she learned to recognize as excitement flowed through her, and she jumped back out of her seat. She nearly flung herself at John, causing him to reach out and clasp the table for support as the wind was knocked out of him.

Cameron wrapped her arms around John in a death-grip hug. "Thank you!" She squealed like a child.

Everyone else at the table just looked at each other confused. Cameron didn't normally show such a display of emotion. When it was this much, it was usually anger. Nobody had ever witnessed her being this happy before, and it was really quite disconcerting. Sarah cleared her throat.

"Oh…" Cameron stood back up and took her seat again. She held up the paper in her hand. "John got me tickets to the No Doubt concert."

"Really? I thought they broke up?" Sarah asked. She'd been a fan herself back in the day.

John shrugged his shoulders and cracked his neck back into place. "Not anymore. It's a sold-out reunion tour of some sort. She has all three albums on my damn iPod. I just assumed she had a thing for them…"

"Oh, slick," Derek complimented, punching his nephew lightly on the arm.

"I heard you listening to them, too," Cameron accused, picking up the remaining piece of plastic and looking at it quizzically. It was blank white, with a magnetic strip on the back like a credit card. "What is this?" She glanced around the table hoping someone could supply her with an answer.

Sarah was the only one who recognized what it was, and hid a smirk behind her bottle of beer. Slick. Yeah, that her son definitely was. She hadn't even noticed he left the house.

"Well, you wanted a surprise," John said. "You just have to figure that one out."

Cameron studied the small card, but she was getting no help from her CPU database.

"I'm going to assume you won't be joining us for fireworks then?" Sarah raised an eyebrow at her sneaky son.

"Nope," he shook his head and stood up. "In fact… we need to get going or we'll be late." He held out his hand to Cameron.

Cameron looked up confused. "Late for what?"

John faked exasperation. "For your surprise, of course!"


	9. Chapter 9

"Where are we going, John?"

John started the SUV and turned down the radio he had been blasting earlier in the day.

"I already told you six times. It's… a… surprise." He turned and gave her an obnoxious grin.

Cameron frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

"Pouting is so not becoming of you, my dear," John teased.

"I do not pout."

John rolled his eyes and pulled up to a stoplight. He turned and tugged a strand of her hair playfully. "Will you please just trust me?"

"I do trust you. I just want to know where we are going. Am I dressed appropriately?"

John looked her up and down; from her white sneakers and tight blue jeans, to her form fitting white tank top. God how he loved that top; even with her right arm still looking like a patchwork ragdoll… for which she remembered to bring a sweater to cover in public. To John, she was perfect.

"Definitely… is that all you're worried about?"

Cameron did her own scan of John's clothes. "You're wearing a new black button down shirt and your best jeans. For you, that's a lot. I admit to some concern for my own attire."

John wasn't sure if he should be insulted, or pleased she noticed the extra effort he put into his current outfit. Checking the light was still red, he quickly unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a plain white undershirt. "There, does that make you feel better? A little less preppy?"

Watching John partially undress caused her CPU to automatically respond, and in turn, her body to react. The smirk on John's face told her he must have noticed somehow, even though she knew her face didn't move. "Yes, it makes me feel… better," she responded.

John's smirk grew as he continued towards his destination.

**********

* * *

They drove for another 45 minutes. Cameron noticed they backtracked a few times, and at first she thought John was simply being cautious, but he was starting to become visibly agitated. They had made their way in to the city. While not nearly the size of Los Angeles, it was still a bustling city, especially because of the holiday. They had yet to come here as a family, since it was much more difficult to spot enemies in a large crowd.

"Is everything all right, John?" Cameron asked. She didn't want to outright ask if they were lost, afraid he'd feel embarrassed.

"Yeah, I just… I know it's around here somewhere…" He muttered to himself and pulled into a large hotel parking lot. "Let's just go in and ask. I'm sure they know where it is."

Cameron still didn't know what 'it' was, but she went along with him. She climbed out of the car and followed him through the revolving front doors.

"Stay here for a moment… don't want you to overhear your surprise," John winked and smiled conspiratorially. "And don't use that superwoman hearing either," he warned.

Cameron gave him an exasperated look and walked across the lobby, feigning interest in some tourist brochures.

John spoke to the young receptionist for a few moments quietly before making his way back to Cameron's side.

"She said it's not far from here, but we're quite a bit early. I gave us some extra time to get some real food to eat that didn't taste like a Zippo lighter. Why don't we take a quick look around this place? It looks nice… and they have a restaurant on the top floor. We can just eat up there. What you say?"

Cameron nodded and followed John to the gold elevators. The lobby itself was fairly elaborate, with plush chairs and wooden tables. She'd never been in a high-quality hotel before. Most of the low-end motels they stayed in were shady to say the least.

John reached out and clasped her hand as the elevator began to lift. It stopped on the 8th floor and John lead her out into the hallway.

"The restaurant is three more floors up, John. There is nothing else on this floor."

John bit his cheek to keep from smiling. "You never know. Let's have a look."

He led her down the hallway all the way to the end, and stopped at the last room on the left. He nonchalantly leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest… and waited.

Cameron just stared at him confused. "What are you doing?"

John shrugged his shoulders. "Waiting for you to open the door."

Cameron furrowed her eyebrows and tried the door handle. "It's locked."

"Duh… of course it is."

"You want me to break down the door?"

John forced himself not to roll his eyes, and instead, smiled brightly. _Only Cameron_. "Noooo… I want you to unlock it."

Cameron tilted her head to the side. "But I do not have a key."

She stared at the door handle, wondering how she would unlock it without a key. It seemed to be a power lock, with no traditional keyhole. There was only a thin slot for what seemed to be a card to be inserted.

Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the size of the slot and her CPU suddenly made the connection. She glanced down and pulled the white plastic card John had given her out of her pocket. Without needing to confirm with John, she slid the card in and heard a soft click, accompanied by a tiny flashing green light on the lock. She turned the handle and stepped inside the room.

It wasn't a particularly large room… but it was plenty big enough. She assumed it was what hotels would call a "suite". It included a full, albeit small kitchen, a king sized bed and a sofa, on which lay two duffel bags she recognized as their own. She stood in the center of the room, taking it all in.

Everything was accented with gold, and the entire room was decorated with warm, inviting colors. On a small table nestled between the kitchen and bedroom space sat a large vase that held two dozen red, white, and purple roses. She walked over to the table and touched the velvety petals with her fingertips.

Turning around, she saw John leaning against the closed door, a somewhat smug grin on his face.

"You did all this?"

John shrugged. "I had some help. The girl at the desk was really helpful, and John Henry was the one who hacked in and switched us with an unfortunate businessman who so didn't need the awesome view that we have…" He nodded towards the back windows where the curtains had been pulled open to allow the day's last light to enter. "Even Dani helped."

Cameron didn't hide the surprise on her face.

"She packed the bags for us while we were cleaning."

Cameron eyed the bags suspiciously. If John didn't know any better, he'd have thought she was using some sort of X-ray vision to scan them.

"Relax… I doubt she put any poison snakes or time bombs in there."

"You never know…"

Cameron wandered over to the windows to realize they weren't just windows, they were doors… to a balcony.

She opened the door and stepped out, the cool breeze tangling her hair around her face. She idly brushed it away and leaned over the railing.

"It's not that spectacular of a view now, but you'll see later why it was worth it," John said, sneaking up behind her and placing his hands on her hips.

"It's worth it already. You didn't have to do this, you know. I don't have a real birthday... and I'm not even really mad at you anymore."

John wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Yes, I did have to… Our lives have never been our own. I've never had the luxury of just relaxing for a day, and letting it all go. And I know you haven't either. We will probably never get this chance again. After everything you have ever done for me… now, in the past, and in both futures… One night, away from everyone, away from it all… it's just one tiny thank you compared to what you deserve."

"Just you and me?"

"Yup, just you and me, sweetheart. No moms, no uncles, no kids, no terminators, no Dani." He made sure to specify the last one.

Cameron glanced down at their joined hands around her waist. "You got 4 out of the 5 right at least."

John poked her in the belly. "Hey… you might be a cyborg, but you're not a terminator anymore. Get it straight."

That brought a smile to Cameron's face. "Are we going upstairs to eat? You did not eat much at home."

"You tasted it… would you have eaten that crap?"

Cameron scrunched up her face in answer. "Then we should go."

John glanced at the rapidly darkening sky. They didn't have that much time. "Eh… I'm thinking I'm more in the mood for room service, what do you say?"

"I do not need to eat, so it is your choice."

John patted her behind and led her back into the room. "I'm going to go hunt us down some ice. Why don't you call down and order something from the menu… anything except pancakes… and I'll be right back?" He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and left her alone in the room.

Cameron found the menu on the small table and looked over her choices. She knew what John liked, and ordered a few healthier choices as well. Unless she was cooking at home, the family didn't eat many vegetables.

She hung up the phone and looked around. Spotting the duffel bags on the sofa, she decided it would probably be a good idea to check that they had everything they needed.

She checked John's bag first, finding even his toothbrush and comb packed. It was slightly impressive that she thought that far.

In her own bag she found a decent outfit, and surprisingly, even her makeup kit and hair brush. What was more surprising though, was the lace lingerie she found folded at the bottom of the bag.

She pulled it out and unfolded it on the bed. It was something she wore only once before, and John never knew it existed. She kept it in a bottom drawer hidden away, and she figured Dani must've found it while packing. John barely folded his own clothes, so Cameron never had any worries that he'd find it.

Not that he would be anywhere near disappointed of course. It would just be the lie she would have to tell him if he asked when she bought it.

Because she bought it a long time ago; before they were "together", before they went to the future…

Before Riley died…

Before they went to Mexico.

Cameron had known John had feelings for her, and in her own way, she had loved him too. The lingerie was meant to seduce him… away from Riley. She had hoped to play on his feelings for her, and his obvious attraction to her. She thought that was all he had wanted.

Everything was logical to her. She had offered John friendship, and at one time they were best friends. But as much as she tried, he hadn't wanted it anymore. He didn't want to be her friend.

So Cameron concluded he didn't want a friend. He wanted a girlfriend.

And she was willing to offer him that. She knew he didn't trust her, but he didn't trust Riley either. In that sense, logically, she and Riley had an equal chance.

Cameron had actually calculated that she had a better chance of winning John over, due to his already existing feelings for her. That night when she crawled into bed with him, she thought she had won. He seemed so sincere… and he was obviously uncomfortable with his physical attraction to her. That was the night she planned to wear it for him.

And she did. But he wasn't there when she returned to his room long after Sarah had gone to bed.

Cameron had actually been upset. Although she didn't fully understand it at the time, looking back now, she understood it for what it was. She had gone back to her bedroom and changed into her regular clothes, and hid the lace number in the back of a drawer. She sat in her room the rest of the night, not even caring where John had gone. She knew who he was with. Cameron had lost.

Of course, when she got the phone call and arrived in Mexico to find John missing, she felt true guilt for the very first time. She should have gone looking for him, instead of skulking in her room all night… and lying to Sarah about his whereabouts.

Cameron stared at the black see-through lace camisole and matching boy-short panties. It wasn't anything real risqué, as at the time, it probably would have freaked John out more than attract him. But…

She tucked the outfit back into her bag, this time on top. Perhaps this time, John would get to see it.

She glanced up as she heard the door lock click open again, and quickly zipped her bag.

"Hey," John said, carrying in the bucket of ice. "Did you order?"

"Yes."

John quirked an eyebrow at her short answer. "That means you ordered me broccoli, doesn't it?"

Cameron smirked. "I ordered it with cheese."

*************************

* * *

The broccoli wasn't all that bad. It was covered in real cheese, not the crap that comes in a jar at the gas station. His steak was cooked perfectly too. Cameron only nibbled on the cheesecake dessert, though.

Then again, maybe "nibbled" wasn't exactly the correct word.

"Are you going to leave me any?" John asked, taking his last bite of steak and chasing it with a long drink of water.

Cameron stared at the half-eaten chocolate cheesecake seriously. "Maybe."

John smiled and shook his head. "Whatever, it's _your_ birthday. I have no idea where you put all that chocolate junk you consume."

Cameron tilted her head. Was he really that dense? "How exactly do you think I sustain my organic tissues?"

John really had no idea, and wasn't sure he wanted to know. For that reason he had never asked. For all he knew, they used some sort of flesh colored photosynthesis, or special terminator lotion…

"Well, um…"

He was interrupted by a loud explosion. Cameron jumped out of her seat and pulled her gun out of her waistband.

"GET DOWN, JOHN!"

She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him out of his chair, shoving him to the floor.

"Whoa, Cam, it's okay!"

There was another explosion. John had managed to get halfway to his feet before he was pushed back down to the floor.

"CAMERON! It's okay!" He got to his knees and grabbed her arm. "It's okay! They're not bombs, they're fireworks!"

Cameron quickly processed what he said. Fireworks. It was Independence Day, traditionally celebrated with fireworks.

"I'm very sorry, John. Did I hurt you?" She pulled John to his feet and did a quick scan, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm fine, Cameron. I should've warned you, but I wasn't thinking. I wanted it to be a surprise."

Cameron finally met his gaze. "It was not a very fun surprise."

John smiled sheepishly. "Well, don't judge yet. Come on." He took her hand and led her out onto the balcony. "This is why I picked this room…"

Another explosion, and the sky lit up with red and green sparkles.

Cameron stood quite still in the center of the balcony, watching the array of colors seemingly shatter across the night sky. Explosions were bright, and she'd seen many of those. But fireworks were different. There were so many colors and they somehow exploded in perfect shapes. Some even whistled or crackled as they fell to the ground, sparkling like glitter.

John sat quietly in a chair behind her, watching her watch the fireworks display. She stood unnaturally still, but her face twitched with delight at her favorites.

He reached out and tugged her hand, and she turned as if noticing him for the first time. He smiled and patted his lap, but a doubtful look crossed her face.

"I don't think…"

"I know how heavy you are, and you're not as heavy as you think."

Cameron looked at the plastic chair skeptically. "It will be uncomfortable for you. I'll squish you."

"I've never complained," John grinned. Not giving her any more time to decide on her own, he tugged her harder and guided her on to his lap. She was heavy, but it wasn't unbearable. With her weight distributed across both of his thighs, it was more of a pleasant discomfort, if that existed. He pulled her body closer to his so that she was leaning against him, and wrapped his arms around her tight.

"How do they make them explode in shapes?"

John watched a red white and blue star appear in the sky. "I have absolutely no idea. That's definitely one for a real rocket scientist."

"Why do you celebrate with fireworks? It's loud, and smells like sulfur."

John shrugged and leaned his head against the wall. "Because they're pretty? I think my junior high teacher once told us it had something to do with John Adams."

They watched the fireworks in amiable silence, enjoying the display of bright colors, and the comfort of each other's company.

John wasn't paying too much attention to the fireworks, though. He was too concerned with the object hidden in his pocket.

And the possibilities.

He still wasn't sure when the perfect time to give it to her would be. He still didn't know what he was going to say. He didn't know what _she_ would say. What if she said no? It was a possibility. She might not want to. She might think it's unnecessary or stupid. She might even say he's 'too young'.

That's what Sarah had said. He told his mom of his vague plans ahead of time, not really wanting to surprise a few years out of her. She never once told him no, but she did lecture him about being young, being sure, being responsible, thinking clearly… basically, everything she could say that wasn't flat out "John, you're an idiot."

Oh well. Technically, he was 24. And technically, they were supposed to be playing the part anyway.

More importantly, it was something they both needed. Deep down, he understood there was a fear and insecurity on both ends that one day it would all disappear.

"I hear music."

Cameron's voice interrupted his thoughts, and John strained his ears to hear over the explosive noise. He could hear the _Star Spangled Banner_ playing in the distance, and it brought a smile to his face. Something about the song always struck a chord in him.

The grand finale left John's ears ringing as they sat there watching the leftover smoke waft through the air. Instead of getting up and heading back inside, Cameron snuggled closer to John, enjoying his arms wrapped around her and the quiet peace that surrounded them.

"Thank you, John," she muttered softly.

John placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and nuzzled her hair. "No, thank _you_."

"For what?"

"For coming back," he whispered.

Cameron tilted her head up and kissed him on softly over his jugular, feeling his pulse quicken against her sensitive lips. "I never left."

"Well," John heard the catch in his voice and cleared his throat. "Wherever you were hiding, it wasn't with me. And those were three very long, lonely days… and nights without you."

He had gotten used to their time together at night, and the empty bed beside him hurt more than anything. It wasn't the sex, because in fact, it was a rare night that Cameron didn't spend the majority of the evening on patrol. It was the comfort they both took in each other's arms at night; the ear that was always willing to listen; the whispered encouragement and teasing caresses.

"I kept an eye on you at all times."

John sighed. "Yeah, I know. I… felt you there. I'd sometimes wake up to hear the shower at 3 am. I hoped every night you would just come downstairs to me, but… God I'm so sorry."

Cameron glanced away, feeling quite a bit of guilt herself for the way she overreacted to the whole situation. "So am I…"

"Well, we survived our first major fight…" John shifted his weight slightly to get more comfortable and changed the subject. "And here we are. I hope you enjoyed your birthday."

A genuine smile appeared on Cameron's lips. "I did. The iPod was a really tight present," she smirked. She idly played with the homemade bracelet tied around her wrist. "The whole day was perfect," she muttered softly.

"Well it's not over yet…" John said. "I, um…" He cleared his throat. _Might as well get this over with. It's as good a time as any._ He could feel his heart beat pick up, and his palms started sweating. He tried not to show how nervous he was, but with an advanced cyborg in his lap, he knew it was pointless. Cameron was gazing at him with some concern, which only served to make him more nervous. He swallowed hard and reached into his pocket.

"I have one more present for you."

He pulled out the small velvet box and held it up between them. Time seemed to almost freeze as he held his breath and watched her open the box slowly.

A small gasp escaped her lips.

John watched her gently remove the ring from the box to examine it more closely. Her face showed an almost child-like wonder as she watched it sparkle in the light through the window.

"Do you like it?" he asked hesitantly.

Cameron just nodded, not being able to find any words to describe how much she loved it.

"I'm glad," John spoke quietly. "Because I'd like to ask you to marry me."

She turned her head and gazed at him in shock.

Taking a deep breath, John prepared himself for what came next. "Derek said we weren't really married in the future. I'd like to change that. I don't know how, but… someday… This is the first step."

Cameron's eyes trailed back to her hand, now enclosed in John's own hand, still clutching the ring between her fingers.

"I love you… I always have," John continued. "I just… I want you to know that I'll never leave you. I'll never choose anyone… and I mean _anyone_… over you." He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "I know the risks, and I understand the complications… they don't matter to me. I'll do my best to be this messianic hero I'm supposed to be. I'll do everything in my power to fight Skynet… but not without you. I need you, Cameron."

Cameron slowly looked back up and met John's gaze shyly. This was something she had never expected. She knew they would play the part, just as they had done in Derek's future, but mostly out of necessity. The way he behaved so uncomfortably when he found out, she assumed it was something he didn't really want, and she understood why. At least she thought she did.

John saw the uncertainty in her expression, and though his nerves threatened to make him faint, he gave her his best reassuring smile.

"Cameron… Will you marry me?" He held his breath and awaited her answer.

Which didn't take long, as her decision was made so long ago.

"Yes."

John let out his breath, releasing all his worries with it. An uncontrollable smile found its way on his face, mirrored by the one on Cameron's. Taking the ring from her, he carefully slid it on to her finger. It fit perfectly.

Cameron brought her hand closer to her face to examine the sparkle more closely. The rose colored gold made the crystal clear stone stand out even more. Out of curiosity, she scanned the stone's clarity… and was surprised when her HUD flashed with a match.

"This is my diamond," she stated with some surprise.

John nodded. "I hope you don't mind. I found it while I was looking for my iPod in the duffel bag that day. I was surprised at how you kept it… like it meant a lot to you, even though I had only given it to you shortly after you first found us. I thought if it meant that much to you, then it would be perfect for this." He was rambling, and he knew it. He wasn't sure if she'd be upset that he had gone through her secret stuff, took something, then had it slightly physically altered.

"It is perfect," Cameron agreed. "Thank you…" She leaned over and brushed her lips over his.

It was a feather-light touch, but John thought he felt the earth shake. Or maybe that was just _him_ shaking. He hadn't felt her lips on his in days. He managed to convince her to stay with him the night before, but she only offered comfort, nothing else.

Still, he wasn't quite sure how such soft, brief contact could turn his world upside down. All he knew was that it left him wanting more; and from the look on her face, she was in the same boat.

He reached up and laid his hand against her cheek, his thumb caressing her slightly parted lips. He leaned forward, sliding his hand through her hair and pulling her closer.

A knock on the door made them both jump. Reaching for guns, they both ran into the room. Cameron motioned for him to hide off to the side as she positioned herself in front of the door.

She called out, "Who is it?"

"Room service!"

John clicked off his safety.

"We didn't order room service!" Cameron called out again.

"Someone by the name of John Henry did." It sounded like a young woman, obviously confused.

Cameron glanced at John, who shrugged his shoulders. She tucked her 9 mm into her waistband and opened the door cautiously.

It was a young woman about sixteen, standing next to a cart laden with a bucket, bottle, and two glasses.

"I'm sorry to bother you…"

"It's all right, we just weren't expecting anything," Cameron said, forcing a smile and stepping away from the door to let the woman in.

John quickly tucked his own gun away and feigned nonchalance. He didn't want to make it obvious that he had actually been hiding while his girlfriend opened the door.

The young woman set the bucket and tray of glasses on the table and smiled shyly at them. She pushed her cart back out the door, glancing at John as she passed. As she shut the door behind her, they heard a clear Scottish accent. "Have a good evening, Mr. Connor."

John's jaw dropped. What was _she_ doing there? Did they really need a babysitter?

"After the attack, it's probably a very good idea to have backup," Cameron said, as if she had read his mind.

"I just hope that girl is still alive somewhere," he mumbled, still staring at the closed door.

Cameron wandered over to the table to inspect the tray. "There's a note with the champagne."

John's mind barely registered the note, rather it focused in on the alcohol. He walked up beside Cameron and lifted the bottle out of the bucket. "Nice, it's thoroughly chilled."

"He's meeting with us tomorrow afternoon."

"Can you hand me a glass?"

"John…"

"He's meeting with us tomorrow. I got it. Glass, please?"

Cameron ignored him. "It says 'he knows who sent it'."

John groaned. "Buzz kill, Cam " He plucked the note from her hand. "I figured as much. No other reason he'd be leaving the Bat Cave. Let's deal with it tomorrow, okay?" He tossed the paper back onto the tray and grabbed a glass.

Cameron rolled her eyes and grabbed the bottle out of his hand.

"Hey!" John whined.

Taking hold of the top, she yanked out the cork and handed the bottle back to him. "That might help."

John stared at the now opened bottle, having not even noticed the cork before. "Um, thanks."

"You're welcome."

She grabbed her duffle bag from off the sofa and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to change." She shut the door behind her with a soft click.

John stared at the door, his glass halfway to his lips. _Well… that was odd._

Shrugging, he walked over to the bed and grabbed the TV remote from the nightstand. He flicked through the channels, not really paying attention to anything on the screen.

He mostly thought about how well the evening had gone. Cameron seemed to have enjoyed herself, and by God… she said yes. John couldn't help but smile.

He heard the bathroom door open and turned his head to see Cameron walk out… and almost dropped his champagne.

Clad… rather barely clad… in nothing but black lace, she strolled confidently over to the bed and stole the remote. Clicking off the TV and tossing the remote aside, she grabbed the precariously tilting glass from John's hand.

John just stared… and stared… and drooled a little bit… and stared some more. She had touched up her makeup, adding a little more than usual. Her hair was teased into sexy tousles, and he could smell the Victoria's Secret perfume he bought her. It was pretty much, hands down, the hottest thing he'd ever seen in his life.

"Something the matter, John?" Cameron asked, grinning evilly. She tilted the flute back and finished off his champagne, the new ring on her finger sparkling in the soft light of the room.

John tried to answer, but only managed to croak. He gave up when she climbed onto the bed and straddled him

She leaned forward and kissed him, a little harder than before. John parted his lips invitingly, and was surprised to feel the last sip of champagne trickle into his mouth. _Holy hell, where did she learn that?_

Caressing his tongue one last time with her own, Cameron pulled away and reached for the lamp, covering them with darkness.

"Happy Independence Day," she whispered, before starting her sensual attack.


	10. Chapter 10

I apologize for this installment taking so long. Life has thrown a whole lot of curve balls my direction recently, and I've been unable to write. Everything is back in order now, and I'm back to writing again (obviously). I don't foresee any more long periods between my updates. It should be back to business as usual. Hope this installment was worth the wait!

* * *

Cameron carefully lifted the covers off her body and slowly crawled out of bed. She stood for a moment making sure she didn't wake John, before scanning the floor for clothes. The lingerie she wore for John would not be appropriate to wear in public, and she had put her own clothes back in her bag. She didn't want to take the chance of disturbing John, so she just pulled on his baggy jeans, and slipped on his shirt she found beside the bed, not bothering with any underwear or bra. Tying her shoes and pulling her hair out of the back of her shirt, she grabbed the keycard and silently closed the door behind her.

********************

* * *

The lobby was empty. The large TV was showing a rerun of _Bewitched_, and Cameron found herself sitting on the couch, pretending to be intrigued.

A redheaded woman approached her from the shadows and sat next to her on the couch.

"You couldn't sleep?" Catherine Weaver asked.

The corner of Cameron's mouth quirked into a tiny grin. "Something like that."

"Mr. Connor is asleep I take it?"

Cameron simply nodded.

"Just as well, there are a few things I needed to speak with you about privately."

Cameron turned up the TV volume a few notches. They would be able to hear each other just fine, but she didn't want anyone else that might come around to be able to hear them.

Catherine continued. "I think you should be aware of certain… circumstances… before we inform the Connors. While the T triple eight's chip was completely intact, someone had erased certain parts of the memory. We're not sure who, but it was done after the initial reprogramming, and it seems, after it was sent here."

"It was compromised here in the present, not the future?" Cameron felt thoroughly relieved

"So it would seem. It's also highly unlikely that it was sent here with termination orders."

Cameron finally glanced at Catherine for the first time. "How have you concluded that?"

A smirk appeared on Catherine's lips.

***************************************

* * *

The early morning sun shone on John's face, pulling him out of a pleasant dream. Not willing to wake up just yet, he snuggled deeper under the covers and pull the quilt over his head. Relaxing once again in his dark shell, he slowly began drifting back to sleep.

Until a slightly chilled hand snaked its way around his body and settled on his bare stomach, where it traced light circles on his skin.

He reached down and took the offending hand in his own and pulled it up to his chest, entwining their fingers as a precaution against further distractions.

Letting out a sigh and feeling his body relax once again, John let the hum of the fan loll him back into sleep.

Until he felt a _very_ naked body slide up against his own; a firm thigh capturing his own leg, and soft breasts pressed against his back.

John moaned and snuggled up closer, opening his eyes under the dark covers.

"Okay, okay… I'm up, sheesh," he mumbled.

He felt soft lips plant a kiss between his shoulder blades. "I know you are," Cameron replied in her monotonous voice, but John felt the grin against his back.

Eyebrows raised, John partially turned around to look at a mischievous looking Cameron. "You are so bad."

Cameron raised an eyebrow of her own. "That's not what you said last night."

John stared at her, totally speechless and seriously wondering if the sassy creature staring back at him with a devilish smile was actually Cameron.

Then again, after last night, there shouldn't have been any doubt.

He chuckled and turned completely around to face her. "Yeah what the hell got into you last night? Not that I'm complaining…"

"You."

"Me?" John asked, confused.

"Technically speaking…"

"Oh my God," John groaned and covered his eyes, comprehension dawning on him. "Now you're a comedian."

Cameron kept her an innocent look on her face. "I don't understand what's funny. I was going to say that, technically speaking, it was this morning."

"Oh that's it." John grabbed his pillow and swung it at her. "Take that smartass."

Cameron laughed and easily deflected his attacks. "Your efforts are futile. I cannot be damaged by a pillow."

John laughed as well and ceased his brutal beatings. He collapsed back down on the bed next to Cameron, still chuckling. "Seriously though, I've never seen you in such a good mood. Well..." John paused in thought. "Actually, I have. You just… weren't you."

Cameron shrugged shyly. "I'm just happy."

John smiled and lifted her left hand. He placed a kiss over the glimmering ring. "I'm glad."

"Sarah is going to flip," Cameron noted.

John made a show of checking out her hand. "Nah… she'll never notice."

Cameron stared at him skeptically. "It's freaking big, John."

John smirked and gently squeezed her hand. "Relax, I already told her. She's probably already over the freak-out stage by now."

*********************************

* * *

Sarah Connor squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the quilt up over her head. She was nauseous, had a headache, and generally wished she could call off life for the day.

Why did she drink that much? Really? What possessed her to think that it was a good idea? Oh the inevitable questions that are never answered.

It had started off with beer and hotdogs. Then progressed to beer and fireworks. Sarah smiled at the memory. It'd been years since she took the time to watch fireworks. She enjoyed Savannah's delight, having missed so many opportunities to share her own son's excitement over something so simple.

John… Sarah groaned and shoved her face into her pillow. No longer a boy, her son was evidently planning on asking his girlfriend to marry him.

His girlfriend… lover… a freaking cyborg.

Yup, her son wanted to marry a robot.

Even more screwed up yet…

The robot, she was almost certain, genuinely wanted to marry her son.

Ah… yes. That's what eventually led to a whole bottle of vodka and orange juice for dessert, and her current hangover.

"Uuuunnngggghhhhh." She didn't want to think about it.

She yawned and stretched out her body. She was sore, she had to pee, she was thirsty as hell… but there was no way she was getting out of bed. Clutching her pillow, she rolled over to the cold side of the bed… and hit something large. Opening her eyes, she saw a sleeping Derek Reese.

Savannah sat on the couch eating her strawberry Pop-Tart. She was bored out of her mind. It was late, almost 11 in the morning, and she had already finished her morning chores, which consisted of making her bed and feeding the cats. Sarah, Derek, and Dani were still sleeping, and John and Cameron hadn't come home yet. And they still hadn't got cable TV.

There was laughter coming from outside. Curious, she peeked through the living room curtain to see several children about her age playing in the street. She didn't even know there were other kids in their neighborhood. She was usually not allowed to go outside on her own, except for the backyard.

Savannah glanced towards the stairs, its banister still only half attached to the wall. Nobody was awake to notice though, right? And she didn't want to wake them up…

She stepped outside and blinked in the bright sunlight. Letting her eyes adjust, she sat shyly on the font steps and watched the children play.

They mostly ignored her, barely glancing in her direction as she made her appearance. She wasn't sure what they were all really playing. There was a boy on a bicycle, and a few girls giggling in the yard across the street.

One girl though, who's long dark brown hair was tied back with a ribbon, was sitting alone on her own front porch next door, and noticed Savannah curiously watching the others. She shyly walked over to the Connor's yard and stopped a few feet away from Savannah.

"Hello," the girl said quietly.

Savannah responded with a shy smile. "Hi."

"What's your name?"

"Savannah. What's yours?"

The dark hair girl smiled brightly, and Savannah noticed she was missing some of her baby teeth, too. "Amanda. You're new here, right? I've never seen you before.

Savannah shrugged and glanced back across the street when she heard the girls begin giggling again, this time pointing in their direction.

Amanda followed her gaze and a sour look crossed her face. "Ignore them. They're always mean. I've known them all my life. Shelly, the big one, makes fun of me all the time."

"Why?" Savannah asked.

Amanda shrugged and took a seat on the lower step. "Because she's just mean, that's all. My mom said it's because her parents are divorced and she's taking her frustration out on me, whatever that means. My parents are still together, though. I have 2 brothers and three sisters. What about you?"

Savannah looked away, trying to figure out what she could tell Amanda. "My real parents are dead."

"Oh…" Amanda looked sad. "I'm sorry."

Savannah just shrugged.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No."

"Oh… How old are you?"

"Eight."

"Me too!" Amanda declared. Amanda wasn't sure what else to say. "Hey, you wanna come play in my yard? We have a big swing set out back!"

Savannah's face fell. "I'm only allowed to play in our backyard. Sarah's rules…" She had an idea though. "We have lots of kittens though. Do you wanna see?"

"Oh! I love kitties!"

Savannah grinned brightly for the first time and skipped down the steps. "Come on then, they're on the back porch." She led Amanda around the side of the house, knowing the inside was still way too messy to let anyone see.

"There's Lizzy over there," Savannah said, pointing to a cat sunning in the grass. "She's the mommy cat. The kittens like to sleep in the box up here." They climbed the back porch and found their feet attacked by four little furry monsters.

"They are so cute!" Amanda picked up the fluffy gray kitten and held it against her chest, scratching it behind its ears and coaxing it to purr loudly.

"That's Dorothy. This is skittles," Savannah introduced the black and white kitten. "That one over there is Athena, and the bigger one is Snickers. He's the only boy… and he's bad."

"Aw, how's he bad?"

Savannah pointed to Amanda's untied shoelaces. "See? You didn't even notice him do it. He sneaks up on you and unties your shoes."

Amanda giggled. "That is so cute! We're not allowed to have cats. My dad's allergic to them." She put Athena down and looked around the porch. "Hey, do you have any Barbies?"

"I only have two. I had to leave the others at my old house." When they rushed to pack, she was only able to bring her favorites.

"That's okay, I have a whole bunch from all my sisters. You wanna play with them?"

"Sure!" Savannah grinned. She hadn't had anyone to play Barbies with in a long time.

"Okay, I'll go get mine and bring them over." Amanda hurried back over to her house as an excited Savannah ran back inside her own.

She carefully made her way up the steps and ran into her room. Careful not to step on Dani sleeping ont he floor, she found the dolls under her bed. She gave their tattered clothes a quick adjustment, and hurried back out the door.

Muffled voices coming from Sarah's room made her pause in the hallway. She had thought Sarah was still sleeping. Now that she was awake though, maybe she should ask her if it was all right to play outside with Amanda? She wasn't really supposed to be outside without permission to begin with. When Sarah found out she had gone out, she might get in trouble anyway.

She heard the front door open and a woman's voice she recognized. Ah… John and Cameron were home. She could ask them for permission. John never told her no…

***************************************

* * *

Derek landed on the floor with a thud.

"Ow… What the fu…"

A strong hand clutched his throat, and he opened his eyes to see a wild Sarah Connor staring down at him, a 9mm pointed at his head.

He had no idea what was going on.

"Sarah… what... are you doing?" he choked out.

"What the hell were _you_ doing in my bed?"

Derek's eyes widened, and he looked around him for the first time. _Oh... shit._

"I don't know… Sarah…"

His cheek suddenly burned as she slapped him across the face. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know! I have no fucking idea! I don't remember a goddamn thing!" It was true. The last thing he really remembered was… he blinked. Well, he remembered the fireworks…

Sarah stared at him long and hard before finally letting him go. She stood up and began pacing back and forth, running a hand through her disheveled hair. She couldn't remember a goddamn thing either.

Derek stood up and moved as far away from Sarah as he cold. He glanced around the room again.

The bed was in one piece.

They were fully clothed.

Sort of.

He swept the floor with his eyes and spotted her jeans beside the bed. His t-shirt was nowhere in sight.

"Sarah… I don't think we did anything…"

Sarah stopped and glared at him.

"I mean, we're dressed… for the most part." Derek sputtered. "I certainly don't feel like we did anything… it certainly doesn't look like we did anything…"

"That doesn't explain why… you were in… my BED!" Sarah hissed.

"I don't know! Maybe you just passed out and I carried you in here, and then just passed out myself…" Derek raised his eyebrows. He had pulled the explanation right out of his ass, and was surprised at how awesomely believable it sounded.

Sarah sighed and rubbed her face. It was a disturbing situation, and it made her even more nauseous than she already was. "Okay, this never happened. Got it? You get out of here, go to your own room, and pretend this never… ever… happened. Don't mention it, don't think about it, just forget it about it completely. If anyone ever finds out…" Sarah dropped her voice to a menacing tone.

Derek didn't need to ask what would happen if anyone found out, he was good at guessing. He just nodded and headed for the door. Turning the knob, he opened it as quietly as possible and peered into the hallway.

And found himself facing a very intrigued cyborg.

**********************************

* * *

"Hi John! Hi Cameron!" Savannah said as she galloped down the steps.

"Well hey, Savannah! What are you up to?" John was surprised when the girl enveloped him in a hug.

"I met a new friend today. Can I go outside and play with her?"

"Uh…" John was slightly alarmed, and so was Cameron. With Savannah's history of friends… "A new friend? Who is she?"

"Her name's Amanda. She lives next door."

"How did you meet her?" Cameron asked. She was aware there were kids in the neighborhood, but they hadn't met any of them.

Savannah glanced at the floor. "Well… she was outside this morning…"

John quickly looked around. "Savannah did you go outside without permission?"

The girl's face reddened to match her hair. "Sarah was sleeping and I was bored… I wanted to play with the other kids…"

"Savannah…" John sighed and knelt down so that he was at eye level with her. "We have rules for a reason. It's very, very dangerous to go outside alone, especially when you don't tell anyone."

A tear trickled down her cheek and she sniffled. "I'm sorry."

John knew he shouldn't give in, but he couldn't help it. "It's all right. I can't lie and say I've never snuck out before… but it's a bad idea. I learned my lesson." He thought he heard a soft snort behind him, but ignored it. Yet another annoying human behavior Cameron picked up on. "Why don't we go outside and you can introduce me to her?" Better to double check that this 'friend' from next door didn't come with cords attached to the back of her head. Speaking of… "And guess what?" he asked, leading her out the back door. "John Henry's coming to visit this afternoon…"

Cameron picked up the forgotten duffel bags and carried them downstairs to their room. She already knew who Amanda was, as she had done her research of the neighbors when they first moved in. Amanda Leigh Robinson was the youngest daughter of Alan and Tina Robinson, born two months before Savannah.

But John was right to be concerned. Savannah was young and small enough to be kidnapped, by human or machine. She shouldn't have gone outside alone; but it was also true that he had done it himself on several occasions. Perhaps he understood better than anyone what it was like to be lonely, and want to make friends.

She left their dirty clothes in the laundry room and carried their toiletries bag back upstairs. She glanced at the banister and made a mental note to make sure Derek finished fixing it later. They also needed to repaint the kitchen. Preoccupied with calculating how many cans of paint they would need to buy, Cameron almost didn't hear the voices inside Sarah's room.

She stopped in front of the door and waited. It was only seconds before the door opened and a disheveled Derek poked his head out.

"Good morning Derek Reese. Or actually, good afternoon."

Derek looked like a deer in headlights. "Um, it's not what you think."

Cameron tilted her head to the side. "Oh, so just one can then?"

"Huh?"

"You said it's not what I think," Cameron replied.

Derek looked thoroughly confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?" Cameron asked. "I was thinking about how many cans of paint we would need to paint the kitchen. I concluded two, but you said it wasn't what I thought. So that would mean then we only need one can."

Derek narrowed his eyes at the slight smirk on the cyborg's lips. He couldn't follow a single word she was saying, and was certain she was doing it on purpose. Shaking his head, he pushed passed her into the hall and headed to his own bedroom. Cameron followed him with her gaze until he shut the door behind him, and then turned her attention to a ragged Sarah, still standing in the middle of her room.

"Do me a favor…" Sarah started.

"I didn't see anything," Cameron said, and with a quick wink, she turned and made her way to the bathroom.

Sarah was left standing there, stunned and speechless.

*************************************************

* * *

Cameron stood outside the closed bathroom door for 3 minutes and 24 seconds before it finally opened to reveal Dani. The swelling in her face had decreased, but the mottled bruise was rather hideous. Cameron was surprised to find she actually felt bad for the woman.

"Hello Dani," she said politely.

Dani just eyed her warily and stepped out of the bathroom without replying.

"Thank you for packing our bags. That was very kind of you. I appreciate the care you took to make sure you packed everything."

Dani's jaw dropped slightly. Not only was Cameron thanking her, but her gratitude seemed genuine. Maybe she was still sleeping and it was all just a weird dream.

"Uh… you're welcome. No big deal."

Dani was visibly uncomfortable, and Cameron wasn't sure why. She was purposely trying _not_ to seem intimidating. She was not posing any threat to her.

Cameron held out her hand, and Dani shied away from it.

Cameron tilted her head, but left her hand out. "Truce."

"What?"

"Truce," Cameron repeated. "I don't like you, and you don't like me. We can agree to dislike each other. But if you're going to be a part of this team, we need to work together."

Dani stared at Cameron's hand for a long moment before hesitantly taking it. "Fine. Truce," she agreed.

Without another word, Cameron let go of her hand and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Dani stared at the closed door for several minutes, not quite sure what had just happened.

*****************************

* * *

The doorbell rang, and a napping Sarah cringed on the couch. "Why is that goddamn thing so loud?"

"I'LL GET IT!" Savannah shouted as she ran full-speed to the door.

Sarah groaned and covered her ears as she sat up. "Savannah please, no screaming in the house."

Savannah opened the door to see a well-dressed man and an old lady standing on the porch.

"JOHN HENRY!" The girl shouted again, and threw herself at the man.

Luckily, that man was made of a sturdy hyper-alloy combat chassis, and caught the child easily without stumbling.

"Hello Savannah. I missed you," John Henry said.

"I missed you too!"

John Henry lowered her back to the ground, and he and the old woman entered the house.

Sarah grimaced and leaned against the couch armrest. John had told her earlier that they were expecting a meeting, and she wasn't looking forward to it. The machines still made her uneasy, regardless of whose side they claimed to be on. She glanced at the old woman who made her way nonchalantly through the living room to stand right in front of Sarah. "_I wonder whose grandmother she killed,"_ she wondered.

"Hello Sarah Connor. How are you today?" John Henry asked politely.

_At least HE has manners_. "Fabulous," she answered sarcastically. "JOHN! DEREK! TIN MISS! DANI! LET'S GO!"

The troops filed in, nodding greetings and taking seats around the living room.

"Where's Cameron?" Sarah asked, noticing the conspicuously empty seat next to John on the smaller sofa.

"Right here," a voice said behind her. Cameron walked in and set John's laptop on the coffee table. "We need a faster computer," she remarked, as she took her seat next to John.

"Isn't that what you're here for?" Derek asked. He smirked at his own joke and put his feet up on the table.

Cameron gave him a withering look but refused to comment.

"Shut up, Reese," Sarah groaned. "Let's get this show started. Savannah, why don't you go upstairs…"

"No."

Everyone turned to look at John questioningly. Even Cameron seemed a little surprised.

"She can stay. Come on over, Savannah." He held out his hand to let her know it was all right.

"John, she's too young. She doesn't need to be here right now," Sarah argued.

"I wasn't too young now, was I?" he said defiantly. He hiked Savannah up onto his lap and wrapped an arm securely around her waist. "She already knows the basics. She's part of this family, too. We're a team. All of us," he said, pointedly looking at everyone in the room, daring them to argue.

"John…" Sarah said warningly.

"Hey, I have an idea," John started. "Let's ask the person in charge. Oh wait… that would be me." He fixed his mother with a determined stare. "She stays."

There was a palpable tension in the air as mother and son stared each other down, each fighting for authority. Derek, who had the unfortunate position of sitting between them, looked as if he was watching a tennis game with his head swinging back and forth and mouth slightly agape. Cameron sat beside John, her face stone-set in her unreadable terminator mask, but a comforting hand rested on his thigh, for which he was thoroughly grateful.

Because despite his confident demeanor, John was extremely nervous, even a little terrified. He had never publicly defied his mother before, especially to this degree.

But this wasn't so much about authority, really. He really did believe they needed to start training Savannah. She was smart, and already knew a lot. If judgment day really was just around the corner and they couldn't stop it, they all needed to be prepared, including Savannah. While it wasn't likely she would understand anything they'd be talking about anyway, she needed to start being a part of the grand scheme of things, so to speak.

Sarah was almost too shocked to even feel angry. The direct defiance, in front of everyone to boot, was a tough blow to take. Her first instinct was to yell at him, ground him, do _something_ motherly to take back control. But she couldn't.

She just stared at him, sitting next to Cameron with a child in his lap.

And gave in.

Without another word she tore her eyes away and swallowed hard. With one nod, she gave the consent to continue.

Not having a clue what had just happened before him, John Henry took is cue and dove right in.

"Yesterday Mr. Connor brought me the chip, and I was surprised that it was still in one piece. But regardless of the condition, I was unable to find some important information. Still, I believe we have plenty to start with. For one, we know who sent it here."

"Who?" Sarah asked.

"I did," Cameron uttered softly. She felt John jerk in surprise, and pulled her hand away.

This time, everyone turned to stare at her. Cameron stared at the floor, not wanting to see the look on John's face.

For the first time, the old woman spoke up. "Before everyone starts jumping to conclusions… quite obviously she didn't send it here to kill herself and Mr. Connor."

Everyone focused their attention on Catherine, except John. He was still studying Cameron's face. He could see right past that emotionless terminator façade, and could tell something was bothering her. He silently reached over and reclaimed the hand she had pulled away, giving it a light squeeze. She still didn't look at him, but she didn't pull her hand away again, either.

"Cameron wouldn't hurt us," Savannah said innocently.

"That's right," John agreed, giving the girl's hair a gentle tug. "That means… either it went bad, or someone made it go bad." He looked back at John Henry. "Right?"

"Well, it would be our assumption that yes, someone reprogrammed it here. Unfortunately, it was only here for a short time before it happened. There's a gap in its memory that seems to have been erased. We do not know who did it."

"You mean we don't _see_ who did it," Sarah said. "Because I'm sure we could make an educated guess."

"Kaliba," Derek said.

"It is highly probable," John Henry agreed. "Unfortunately, we don't know where to locate them, as of course, we have been trying very hard. What we do know, though, is where the T-888 was located at the time of reactivation."

Everyone seemed to want to talk at once. "What the hell are we waiting for then?" Dani spoke for the first time from her spot on the floor.

"Do you really think they're still around wherever they reactivated it?" Derek asked.

"It's worth a shot," Sarah said. "We don't have anything else to go on. Where were they? Do we know anything about the area?"

"Stop," John held up his hand for quiet.

The room fell instantly silent.

"Let's not lose sight of the other, perhaps even more important issue we have on our hands here. Cameron…" He gave her hand another squeeze and she finally turned her gaze back to his. "I know you don't know, because it wasn't really you… yet… who actually sent it back. But can you think of any reason as to why you would send it back?" It was a huge risk to send a machine with so much knowledge back in time. Even Cameron wasn't sent back with exact information; she had to track him down. There had to have been a good reason for her to make such a decision, and he hoped Cameron might have some sort of idea.

"Yes, I can think of a reason," she replied. "And if I'm right… we're in a lot of danger." She looked at Catherine. "Can you reprogram the chip? We're going to need that triple eight."


	11. Chapter 11

Be kind with my errors for now. It's 5 am, and I'm going cross-eyed proofing this darn thing. Make a list and send em to me. I'll fix them after I get some sleep! Oh, and don't be all "boring, no action". You know darn well my stories are more crack than action lol. There's plot... and Jameron separation. Oh the possibilities.

* * *

"What do you mean 'a lot of danger'? Why haven't you told us before? What do we need that damn thing for? I thought you destroyed it! Have you been…"

"MOM!"

Silence fell over the room once again. "How about we all just calm down and give her a damn chance to explain?" John tugged on Cameron's arm, trying to get her to sit down again.

Sarah had leapt off the couch when Cameron said they would need the triple eight, and Cameron had immediately followed suit. She wasn't challenging Sarah; she was simply putting herself in a better position to protect John and Savannah. It wasn't a logical move, as Sarah would never harm either of them. It was an automatic reaction that Cameron didn't even process.

"Cam… sit," John muttered quietly. Cameron blinked, as if acknowledging the command, and sat back down beside him. Sarah chose to remain standing, glaring at Cameron.

Derek shook his head and stood up. "Hold up," he said, before disappearing into the kitchen. They heard the refrigerator door shut, and Derek reappeared carrying an entire six-pack. He shoved a bottle into Sarah's hands, not giving her an option, and tossed another to Dani. Removing two more, he set the rest on the table and handed one to John. "Alright, now we're ready," he said, kicking his feet back up on the coffee table.

Cameron glanced at John, who nodded his consent before she began. "As has already been discussed before, Judgment day may not be that far off."

Derek cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, um… I know nobody really wants to hear it, but… in the long run… since we're on the subject… it might be beneficial to know that it happened in 2010. For me, at least."

"Well… That would explain why you all were sent here now," Sarah said, finally taking a seat beside him. "It's too soon. It's… we need to stop it.

"Judgment Day cannot be stopped, Sarah." Catherine, in her old woman form, managed to look like a reproachful grandmother; the kind you were afraid to fidget in front of, or get caught sneaking candy before dinner. "Just as progress is inevitable, so is Judgment Day. You can postpone it, you can alter the future, but in the end, it'll happen regardless of what we do here. Our goal is to fight it, not stop it."

The room fell silent once again, each waiting for someone else to pick up the conversation ball.

"Well that just sucks," Dani whispered, breaking the silence.

"Still doesn't explain why we need yet another friggin machine around… one that was to my knowledge already fried." Sarah shot another dagger in Cameron's direction, ignoring the return glare from John.

Cameron effortlessly kept her terminator mask up, revealing no emotion one way or the other. "The closer to Judgment Day we get, the more terminators are sent back to kill John."

"And this is a problem… why? You don't think the…" She did a quick count of the room's occupants, minus the little one. "…_seven_ of us can handle it?"

John snorted and pointed to the room behind her. "I'd say the kitchen is proof of our epic failure to _handle_ a single terminator."

"_Our_ epic failure?" she asked.

"Mine," Cameron said. "Obviously…" she said in a quieter voice.

"All of ours," John corrected. "It doesn't matter. Two terminators fighting on our side is always better than one."

"We already have three," Sarah said.

"Yeah, but when are they actually ever with us?" John argued. "The triple eight would stay with us. It would be a huge help to us and Cameron, who may I remind you again, has absolutely no mission or orders binding her to stick around protecting one, John Connor."

"What's your point?"

"It's not her job anymore," he nearly growled.

"It will always be my job to protect you, John," Cameron said quietly. "It's my choice, not my mission."

Derek scratched his head, feeling a little awkward. "It's a good idea. It's less pressure on Cameron, with so many of us to protect." An idea occurred to him, and he grinned evilly. "And John would be a lot less distracted, not having to worry about her all the time." He flinched as his nephew's foot made contact with his shin.

"Fine." Sarah leaned forward and took control of the conversation. "So we reprogram the damn thing. Whatever. We still need to find whoever tampered with it to begin with. We have at least a general location where it was reactivated. So I say we follow the one lead we have, and cross any other bridges when we come to them."

"I agree; we just start with what we know. I can take a recon team and check out the area," Derek said.

"Right," John nodded in agreement. "John Henry, can you start by checking out any companies, suspect buildings, networks… anything suspicious in the area… especially anything that might house an AI. If it is Kaliba, we might as well cover all the bases."

"Of course, I already have a list ready," he smiled his almost creepy smile.

"Great," John said. "Then the rest of us will be going on a little field trip."

"Mr. Connor," Catherine interrupted. "If I may… I'd like to ask for your assistance with the triple eight."

John's right eyebrow inched up skeptically. "Why? You can't tell me that after creating an entire artificial intelligence, that reprogramming a relatively old model terminator is a challenge?"

"It would be a challenge for you," Cameron said.

Sarah covertly covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile, and Derek took a sip of his beer to hide his own. Dani didn't care enough to bother.

John, though, suddenly found Savannah's hair fascinating. Had Cameron really just called him out in front of everybody? Sure, it was true, but for some strange reason it made him feel like a little kid, too young to do the big people things.

"You can hack a chip, John, but you've never reprogrammed one yet." Cameron explained. She realized she had made John feel embarrassed by her remark, and was trying to follow the suggested prompts from her CPU to make it better. They were usually quite helpful, but this time, she wasn't having much success. "It would be beneficial if you learned how to do it before the war." There, that seemed to have some positive effect.

John rubbed his face with his hand. He really didn't want to spend a significant amount of time alone with Catherine and John Henry. He could only imagine the riveting conversations they would have together.

But it didn't look like he had much of a choice. All that was left was to decide who did what now. Someone had to stay behind with Savannah. While she was ready for some things, recon wasn't one of them.

And he wanted somebody to come with him. He wasn't sure how long the triple eight would take to repair and reprogram, but he was sure it was longer than he'd be able to take alone. If that made him a baby, so be it. Deep down, Catherine and John Henry still creeped him.

He knew automatically who he wanted on recon, and he knew who he wanted to come with him… however…

Sometimes the first choice isn't exactly the best choice.

John sighed and ruffled Savannah's hair. Why exactly had he decided to be the big bad leader now? He didn't want to make the wrong decision. Nor did he want to admit, to himself or anyone else, that secretly, he just tried to figure out what his mother would do.

"Derek and Dani… you're on recon. Take the SUV, get Dani her own phone, and go check the area out."

Derek's demeanor instantly changed. Having been given orders, he was no longer just the uncle on the couch. He was a soldier, ready to follow his general.

"No problem." He stood up and cracked his neck. "Let's go," he said to Dani. "Pack up. Might as well get a move on."

John waited till they were out of the room before he continued. He looked back and forth between his mother and Cameron, and hoped he was making the right decision.

* * *

Cameron put four pair of socks in the duffel bag on the bed and zipped it up. In the backpack, she put an iPod, a 9mm, and the laptop. She paused while putting extra ammo in the front pocket when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Cameron…"

"I understand, John." She zipped the pockets and turned to face him.

"Do you really?"

Cameron glanced down at the bags, and back to John. "I understand I am the best choice to protect Savannah. I also understand that with two other machines, you won't need me."

"Aw, Cam…" John sighed and reached up to brush her hair out of her face. "It's not that I don't need you. And I do want you to come with me, I swear. It's just that… my mom has always been there for me, and lately… We haven't been as close as we always been, and I don't like that. I need my mom just as much as I need you. And I want her to know that."

It was true. She had noticed a difference in their relationship, and she was certainly aware that, unfortunately, most of it was because of her. "I understand now. Thank you for explaining."

John's lips quirked into a tiny grin. He secretly loved when she said that. It was a little part of the cyborg that just made her who she was. She knew it was weird to say, but she still did it anyway.

"Speaking of explaining, I think you have some to do yourself." He moved the duffel bag to the floor and plopped down onto the bed.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, please. You know damn well I didn't fall for your "Judgment Day is coming" excuse. So please, enlighten me. Why do you really want to reactivate the triple eight?" John kept his voice light, hoping to encourage her to be honest. Not that she was truly ever dishonest, but she would often withhold important things…

"Like Derek said, with so many people, I could use the help to protect you."

"Uh huh. That was a really, really good excuse too," he said sarcastically. He grabbed her arm and yanked her down to the bed next to him. Or rather, he tugged hard, and she yielded to his request as if his one-handed strength was enough to pull her down.

"You don't think so?" she asked.

"No, I do. He's right. It's not fair to you to have to keep an eye on so many people. It's not even fair anymore to assume you're just going to do it for even me. You don't have to, you know."

"John…" She checked to make sure she had his undivided attention. "I may not have a programmed mission anymore, but I still have a purpose. Just like you do. Your purpose is to lead mankind in the war against Skynet. My purpose is to protect you; to help you and make sure you are able to do just that."

John thought about that for a moment. "So, I guess that's why we make such a great team then, huh?"

"Yes, we're a good team," she smiled warmly.

"And teammates don't keep secrets, especially from their boyf… fiancé." He grinned, seeing the frustration on her face.

"It is not a secret. I simply don't find it necessary to share."

John just stared at her, waiting patiently.

Cameron looked away.

"In the future, you told me about a new model of terminator that was sent back to kill you."

"Okay, but…" John was silenced by a slender finger placed on his lips.

"It has a solid metal combat chassis, stronger than mine, and it's covered with mimetic poly-alloy… the liquid metal that the T-1000 models are made of. But that's only part of it," she explained. She waited to make sure John wouldn't start talking before moving her hand away from his mouth.

"It is equipped with onboard weaponry, more like the T-900 series. It can form at least ten different weapons, including a plasma cannon which can cause significant damage to other terminators. It also has advanced sensors to aid in human identification, including infrared systems, retina scanning, and the ability to analyze human DNA."

She watched his eyes widen in shock. "Holy shit, was Skynet that desperate?

"Yes," she replied simply.

"Okay," he tried to picture it in his head. "So besides being a heavily armed beast… I mean, what's its advantage? It has a solid endo, so it can be destroyed a lot easier than a T-1000 model…which, by the way, we actually have one upstairs…"

"Infiltration," Cameron explained. "It's a much better infiltrator than the previous models. Its emotional capacity is also much greater. You said you witnessed it display anger and surprise. You said it even audibly growled in frustration. For a regular terminator, that's unheard of. Even with my unlimited emotional capacity, I do not react with inconsequential noises."

John smirked. "I beg to differ…"

Cameron just gave him a barely tolerant look.

"Okay, okay. So… what happened? How did it not kill me?"

"It almost did. Your wife sent an old T-800 model to protect you. At the time, it was a model you trusted and were somewhat emotionally attached to due to your childhood connection."

"Wait…" He wasn't sure what to tackle first. "My wife?"

"Yes, John. You were married in my future. Ten years before I was created."

"Wha.. W…" He rubbed his eyes. "From what you've told us, I wasn't married when you showed up."

"No. She died in child birth."

_Oh._ He almost felt as if his brain was going to explode. He switched tracks before it could. "How in the hell did an old T-800 protect me from… um, _it_?"

"_It_ is a T-X. And the T-800 protected you from a T-1000, did it not? It's ruthlessness and loyalty to you, once reprogrammed of course, is what saved you. It managed to detonate one of its own power cells to terminate it."

John was still a bit confused. "How did it find me in the first place?"

"It's a long story. Simply stated, you were in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It was purely by accident."

"Well that's comforting," he mumbled.

"Now do you understand why I am concerned?"

"Yeah, definitely… it's just… ugh. Do you _really_ think I need to go spend Lord only knows how long with Creepy and Creepier reprogramming that thing?"

Cameron nodded solemnly. "I do. It's worth the added security, and your training."

They both looked up as Sarah walked down the steps. "John, Derek and Dani are about to leave. I think you should…"

"Yeah, I'll be up in a minute," he said.

"Now would be good."

John rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, boy. You may be some future superhero, but I'm still your mother."

"Yeah, yeah…" John barely avoided his mom's slap as he ducked past her on the stairs. "Oh, you're getting too slow!"

"I'll give you slow," Sarah mumbled, before turning her attention to Cameron, who'd stood up to face her.

They regarded each other for several long moments, neither really sure what to say.

"It's good that you and John will get to spend time together," Cameron started awkwardly.

"Is it?" Sarah made her way down the rest of the steps and stood in front of her. "You know, I'm still not sure if I trust you," she said.

Cameron's face remained blank. "You trust me. If you didn't, you wouldn't allow me to spend so much time with John."

Okay. Score one for the tin miss. "Well, it's not like it's my place anymore to make that decision, is it?"

"Of course it is." Cameron looked up the steps as if expecting to see John standing at the top. "You're still his mother, and we both know he's not really in charge. Even he knows he's not totally in control yet. But it's important that he keeps trying. He'll push harder and harder from now on, and that's good. Today was a good effort."

Sarah snorted and crossed her arms across her chest. "I almost slapped him into next week for that."

"I was a bit surprised as well. But I was also proud of him. After all this time encouraging him to…"

"Grow up and stop being a perpetual whiner?" Sarah interrupted.

"To start acting more responsibly," Cameron corrected, but she didn't try to hide her smirk.

"Yeah well…" Sarah looked down at the floor uncomfortably. "That's probably partly my fault. I probably babied him for too long. I don't know." She sat down on the end of the bed and rested her arms on her knees. "I'm just not ready for this. Everything. The war, him growing up, you… I thought we were done. I thought we had stopped it years ago. Then you showed up…" She paused, and started cracking her knuckles one by one. Cameron decided warning her that it could cause an increased risk of arthritis would be inappropriate at the moment, so she just remained standing quietly, not sure if she was supposed to sit or say something.

"Yeah, you showed up…" Sarah continued. "You're both a curse, and a blessing… I don't know if I should hate you, or thank you. And I sure as hell still don't know what to think about you and my son."

Cameron remained silent, unsure where the conversation was leading.

"Part of me wants to puke at the mere thought of him with you," Sarah admitted. "But then… there's another part of me deep down, that actually understands why." She looked Cameron up and down, before steering her eyes towards the floor.

"Of all the women who ever could've been, or would've been in his life…you, a goddamn machine, are the only one who will ever measure up."

Cameron slowly sat down beside Sarah and regarded her doubtfully. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

Sarah grinned ruefully. "It's all right. It doesn't really matter anyway." She looked down and picked up Cameron's left hand, bringing it closer to her for inspection.

"Whoa, go figure. My son has good taste."

"It's the diamond he gave me," Cameron offered. "From the safe house."

Sarah was quite surprised, and it showed on her face. She remembered that day clearly. "_Diamonds are a girl's best friend_

Yeah, that was the day she realized she was going to have a problem on her hands. "Really? You kept it all this time?"

Cameron looked at her as if it were obvious. "Of course I did."

Huh. A terminator understanding the concept of sentimental value.

Sarah dropped her hand and stood up, suddenly feeling immensely uneasy.

* * *

"We should get going," Sarah said, walking into the living room several hours later and setting her duffel bag by the door.

"Shhh…" John held up his hand. He stared, seemingly frozen in place for a long moment, before finally moving his knight. "Check," he said, grinning with satisfaction.

John Henry pondered his next move for a mere few seconds before moving a bishop four spaces. "There, that puts me out of check, and I believe…" He double-checked the board. "Check Mate. You lose again Mr. Connor."

John groaned and tipped over his king. "I give up."

"Pfft you never had a chance," Sarah said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, everything's packed," John said. "Let's get going."

"Noooo!" Savannah was sitting on the couch beside John Henry. She had been elated all day to have her old friend back, but now she certainly didn't want him to leave.

"I will come back to visit again, Savannah. I promise." He gave the girl a hug before following a brooding Catherine Weaver out the door.

"We'll be back in a few days," Sarah piped enthusiastically. John thought she sounded overly hopeful. "Let's go, John."

John finished putting the game away and grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch.

"You packed the supplies?"

"Yes, mom. Like there isn't a Wal-Mart within 10 miles of wherever you go in this country."

Sarah ignored him. "The guns? Ammo? Tools?"

"Yes, mom."

"Medical kit?

"YES, MOTHER"

"You're sure you have everything then?"

"YES!"

"No."

John turned to see Cameron holding his backpack. "I think you're forgetting something."

Sarah rolled her eyes and mumbled something about smart mouthed kids before walking outside.

A bit embarrassed, John took the backpack and gave Cameron a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks." He balanced the bag on the back of the couch and opened the main compartment.

"Front pocket," Cameron said.

John gave her a weird look but unzipped the front pocket as he was told. "Oh… how'd you know I was looking for this?" He pulled out his iPod and held it up.

"Duh," Savannah giggled. "You _always_ listen to your headphones in the car."

John looked back and forth between Savannah and Cameron, both wearing amused looks on their faces.

"Right… why do I have a feeling leaving you two together could be dangerous?"

Savannah just giggled again, and a small grin appeared on Cameron's lips.

"That's it. I'm getting out of here before you freak me out enough to change my mind." He walked out into the chilly night, tripping over a scurrying kitten in the dark. "Hey! Watch where you're running, Snickers."

"Walk much?" his mother asked, already stretched out on the seat.

"Shut up," he muttered, and tossed the backpack behind her on the far back seat. "It's bigger back there, probably more comfortable," he said, eyeing her obviously uncomfortable position.

"Closer to the door," she said automatically.

"Whatever." With one foot in the door, John took one last look back at the house and paused.

Cameron stood on the porch, watching them solemnly. As he watched, Savannah came out and stood next to Cameron, leaning against her comfortingly. Cameron glanced down and smoothed the hair out of the girl's face, before settling her hand reassuringly on her shoulder. She looked up once more and met John's gaze.

John felt something tug inside him, and suddenly, he wasn't sure about his decision. The sight made his throat tighten, and he had to swallow hard to push back the sudden wave of emotion that crashed over him. "_What the hell is wrong with you, Connor? Quit being a sissy. Get in the van and get your ass going," _he berated himself.

"John?" his mother called quietly. Unfortunately, if his own nagging voice wasn't working, hers certainly wouldn't.

Instead of climbing in the van, he turned back to the house. He made it to the porch and took the steps two at a time, never once breaking his gaze from Cameron's. When he reached the top, his hand found its way to the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her hair and pulling her closer. Without a word, he leaned in and claimed her lips in a casually passionate kiss, not giving a damn who was watching.

When he finally pulled away, he stared into her blue tinted eyes and almost… almost lost his will to leave her.

"It's only for a few days, John," she assured him quietly.

He wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him, or herself. He didn't think it worked either way.

The van horn honked behind him. "JOHN! LET'S GO!"

John closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "It had better only be a few days, else mom and I might kill each other."

* * *

Sarah sat up carefully, completely sore and stiff. She slowly stretched out her muscles as best she could in the van's limited space.

She'd fallen asleep shortly after leaving and from the feel of it, had slept for several hours. She couldn't tell what time it was from the still-dark sky, so she checked the dashboard clock. It was four in the morning.

She quietly cleared her throat. "Where exactly are you taking us?" she addressed the silent terminators in the front seats.

"Where else would we be going, but Zeira Corp."

John suddenly sat up too. "Wait, what? We can't go to Zeira Corp.," he said groggily.

"And why not?" Catherine asked.

"Well, for one, you sold the company," John said

"And let's not forget the high price tag we have on our heads," Sarah added.

"Nobody is going to see you," Catherine said. "And I didn't sell the company. Catherine Weaver sold it. And only half of it at that."

A cold chill ran down John's spine. He could see his mother had a similar reaction.

"So…"

"So technically, I still own Zeira Corp." Catherine turned around to face them. "All of it," she said, in a deeper male voice they'd never heard before.

John squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temple. He was trying to remember the leader of the company "Catherine" sold Zeira Corp to… and if the media had mentioned any family.

Oh well. The poor man… who must've had a thick Detroit accent… had to have been dead by now anyway.

* * *

"We run a confidential business here. You don't ask questions, and you see nothing. It works well," Catherine said conversationally.

They were on the elevator, heading down to the basement of Zeira Corp.

"I would ask that you don't leave the building, or go roaming around much for that matter. For your safety, of course. You will have everything you need, just ask."

"So we're basically just going to be living in the basement then?" Sarah asked.

"Precisely."

"Will there be others?"

"Yes, and they know who you are. At least, partly anyway. Have no fear, you can trust them. Mr. Murch is my most trusted engineer. He rebuilt my John Henry."

"So if you've had Zeira Corp all this time, why not just stay here? Why put up the old lady façade?" John asked.

"Several reasons. For one, I sold it under the pretenses of needing to get away from the business for a while, and second, I had Savannah."

Well, at least that made sense, John thought.

They reached the basement and followed them down the corridor. Catherine stopped in front of a nondescript door and opened it. "This will have to suffice for your living quarters. Get some rest. Our team will begin working on repairing the endoskeleton. _That_, you need no practice with." With that, Catherine left them alone in the corridor.

John peeked into the room and felt his stomach drop. "Wow. I guess we're sharing a room."

"Just great," Sarah groaned. "You snore like a wild hog." She tossed her bag on the floor and collapsed onto one of the small bunks.

"I do not snore!" John dropped his bags, and tried to get comfortable on his own bunk.

"Oh, please! We had hunters show up at our camp down in South America thinking they were tracking dinner."

"Funny, I don't remember that one," John said, rolling his eyes at the ceiling.

"Of course you don't, you were sleeping."

"Right, right… at least I don't fart in my sleep.

"Oh come on!"

Instantly cracking up, John pointed at her, trying to catch his breath. "Don't even deny it!"

A pillow smacked him in the face, causing him to laugh even harder. "Thanks! I could use another one. These pillows suck." He then made a show of propping the two pillows up under his head.

"Give it back," Sarah growled.

"I don't think so. You gave it to me."

"It's mine. Give it up, John."

"Possession is nine tenths of the law."

Sarah stalked over to his bed and tugged hard on her pillow. John wasn't giving up easily, though. He clutched both pillows tightly, nearly being pulled right off the bed with them.

They both froze when they heard John's cell phone begin to ring in his backpack. Wasting no time, Sarah dove for the bag.

"Mom! Seriously? Don't do it!"

Laughing evilly, Sarah dug the cell phone out of the front pocket and held it up. "Oh look, surprise surprise. It's your metal muffin. Maybe I'll just hit 'reject'…"

"Mom, no…" John quickly tossed her pillow back across the room. "There, take it. Please?" he pleaded.

Sarah tossed the phone at him and walked back over to her bed. "No gross mushy stuff while I'm in here. Might make me nauseous." She fluffed her pillow and rolled over, hoping to fall asleep… and even considered shooting sheep in her head.

"Hey," John answered after punching in his code. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, everything is fine. Did you reach your destination?"

"Yeah, we're at Zeira Corp. Go figure. Something about still owning it, or half owning it, or something…"

"Of course. It's a valuable asset we would not want to eliminate. Actually selling it would be counter productive."

John mocked her from the safety and privacy of his end of the phone.

"Please do not mock me, John. It's not my fault you were not thinking strategically."

John stared at his phone, wondering if it had some secret tele-cam of some sort he didn't know about.

"I heard your mouth moving," Cameron explained.

"What? You did not! That's impossible," he said indignantly.

"You're dehydrated. You should drink some water."

"Sure, I'll get right on that," he mumbled.

"There's a bottle in your backpack."

John spotted the bag a few feet away from his bed. He stretched his arm as far as he could and grabbed one of the straps, not wanting to get off the bed. He unzipped it, and behold, he found a bottle of H2O... next to a bag of Cheetos. "You're the best. You know that?"

"You've told me before."

"Have I? Hmm… Have you heard from Derek?"

"No. I'm calling him next."

"All right. Keep us posted then."

He hung up and set his phone on the floor by the bed. "Hey…" He waited for Sarah to roll over before tossing her the bottle of water.

"Thanks," she said, catching it easily. "How's Pooky?"

"Oh, shut up."

"No disaster's yet?"

"Really now, how much trouble… never mind."

"Exactly."

They laid in silence for a long time; neither really tired enough to sleep.

"Do you think we've pretended long enough?" Sarah asked, after what she estimated to be about an hour.

"You think there's a room service button around here?"

Sarah chuckled and stood up. She stretched, feeling several vertebrae pop back into place. "Oh, God I'm getting too old for this."

John sat up as well, and began cracking various parts of his own anatomy. He started with his back, then his neck, and finally, his knuckles. Sarah just watched him in fascination.

"You're sick, you know that?"

John grinned and followed her to the door. "Let's go see what trouble _we_ can cause."

Sarah snorted. "Just don't break anything. I don't want to be here any longer than we have to."

"Agreed." John opened the door and jumped. James Ellison, looking like he'd seen plenty of better days, greeted them.

"Morning. Thought you might want a tour to the cafeteria."

John and Sarah glanced at each other. "There's a cafeteria?"

The former FBI agent stared at them like they were idiots. "Yes, it's a business office building. Most large corporate establishments have them."

"Right," Sarah said. "Then lead the way. I believe we have a lot to catch up on," she said meaningfully.

"You have no idea," Ellison said to himself.


	12. Chapter 12

First, I tried, but this is my biggest chapter ever. I'm sure there are a ton of typos I've missed. I apologize in advance. It was finals week, after all.

Thanks to everyone still reading, and enduring my long wait times. It's hard to push them out as fast as I used to. And for those who haven't noticed, part of the reason is that my chapters have doubled, if not tripled in length compared to Irony, Thy Name is Cameron. Top that with I wrote Irony during the summer (while school was out), and you get lots of wait time now. This chapter isn't so much filled with action either, but by now I'm sure you all know… that's the majority of my chapters lol. There will be some action coming soon, but we're getting ready for judgment day, so there's more preparations than full out action in the coming few chapters. I've had a few people ask what's coming soon. Well, I don't want to give everything away, but I'll give you a few things to look forward to at the end of this chapter.

Oh, and Terminators DO use conjunctions when speaking. Please refer back to every episode with terminator dialogue. Thanks. If you need an example, the final episode is amazingly full of them. - I can't remember who had asked me about my terminator dialogue.

Lastly, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! Merry Christmas to those who celebrate... Chapter 13 will be up before the new year.

* * *

_THREE WEEKS LATER_

* * *

John slouched forward in the comfortable desk chair. His head was propped up on his hand while he typed with the other. Luckily he could type faster with one hand than most people could type with two. He sighed and hit the enter key hard enough to make the whole keyboard bounce.

"Ok. Hook it up."

He leaned back and stretched, waiting for his mom to plug in the chip. They'd been working together for the past three weeks, and it was working quite well actually. Sarah was either truly interested, or a great actress. Either way, if he was at the computer terminal, she was there too. She didn't really have a clue what he was doing, but she watched patiently, and pretended she was grasping what all the numbers scrolling across the screen meant.

They also just talked... a lot. They talked about everything and nothing. They talked about life in general, old memories, Skynet, Derek…former and current (as weird as that was), the Dani and Cameron drama, and John's relationship with Cameron.

Well, maybe not so much of the last one. When you had that kind of conversation with your mom, you almost had to wear a fire suit to protect you from the awkwardness. John added the helmet and boots, and even some reflectors for extra security.

The one thing they somehow silently agreed to avoid talking about was the future, and other than a few uncomfortable fire suit moments, it was almost like the old days when all they had was each other, and could talk about anything.

"I think you broke it," Sarah said.

John sighed. "Did you put it in right?"

"Of course I did. Nothing's happening." She removed the chip from the T-888 skull and handed it back.

John reconnected the chip and scrolled through the code. "Oh, duh. Here." He furiously typed for a few seconds. "There, that should do it."

Sarah re-plugged the chip in and heard the tell-tale whirring sound of the terminator booting. "Okay, we're in business."

At 120 seconds, the torso and head of the triple eight twitched and came to life. As John was about to ask it to identify itself, its mouth opened and a horrible screeching sound escaped.

Sarah cringed and covered her ears as John yanked out the chip and stared at it in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THAT THING?" Sarah shouted at her son.

John's face reddened as he reconnected the chip once more to the main computer. "Well, I started playing with my own programming. I tried eliminating some of the base code and inserting my own."

Sarah slowly sat back down, still regarding the terminator's face stuck in an expression of horror. It creeped her out. "Well, maybe you should just stick to the original programming. Whatever you did sounded painful."

John tossed the optical mouse across the desk and leaned back in his chair frustrated. "Mom, I've been trying that for weeks! I just haven't been able to get it right yet. I'm not sure I ever will. I'm honestly about to give up. I haven't slept in days, and I've had no progress whatsoever."

Sarah had noticed his restless nights. He often kept her awake, tossing and turning on the squeaky bunk. She had been concerned, and had even approached Catherine about it.

_"You know, he's been working on it for a long time now. Longer than we expected. Don't you think perhaps it's about time to give him a hand? Or at least a hint?"_

_Catherine had just stared at her blankly. "I am already doing him a favor. Imagine if he had to learn how to do this in the middle of the war?"_

Sarah frowned, remembering the frustration she had felt.

_"But what if he always had someone who had helped him learn? Cameron is here, and she knows how to do it. Maybe it was part of her job to come back and teach him."_

_"It was," Catherine said. "But you benefit more from someone handing you the tools you need and telling you to figure it out yourself, than someone handing you step-by-step instructions on how to do it. He'll gain a thorough and in-depth understanding of how each strand of code functions by learning this way. He is on schedule. I had no illusions of this being accomplished quickly."_

_"You could have warned me," Sarah grumbled_. _"I'd have stayed home."_

Actually, Sarah had to disagree with herself. She would never take back the amount of bonding time they shared over the past several weeks. They had both learned a lot about each other, and even began to see things from the other's perspective.

"Well, hey, it's been a long day. Why don't we go hunt down something to eat and call it an early night?" Sarah suggested.

John considered it for a moment. "Nah, I wanna work on this some more. You can go ahead. Ellison's usually eating around this time. He'll be riveting company, I'm sure," he said with a small grin.

Sarah's faced scrunched in a disgusted look. James Ellison was a nice man, but he was boring as hell to keep company with. His main job was still to work with John Henry, although his responsibilities had stretched to be counselor to the several other permanent employees that were in the know about the future and Catherine herself… itself. Evidently, some of them were having a difficult time reconciling what they knew now with they had been taught by religion all their lives. Sarah thought it was just plain stupid. She didn't understand how one could doubt something they see with their very eyes, but believe in something they can't even prove exists.

_"It's simple," she said, in a heated debate over lunch one afternoon. "There is no fate but what we make. So what does it matter what some imaginary being 'wants' us to do or be? In the end, it's our decision. If there is a God, I'm not sure I even want to know the bastard."_

_James Ellison had closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer above. "Sarah... that which you call fate, is not actually fate. It's destiny. Fate cannot be controlled. It's what you were given in this life, determined by time, date and place you were born. It's more like God's plan for you, if you will. You can't change it. John's fate is to be the future leader of the Resistance, born to you in 1985. He can't control that; it is what it is. His destiny, however, can be controlled. It's up to him to decide what kind of life he leads, and what kind of leader he'll become. Destiny is your free will, and the power to make your own decisions."_

_"And Skynet... the destruction of humanity... is that God's plan too?" she asked. "It seems no matter what we do, we can't escape it."_

_"No," Ellison said sadly. "Judgment day is the result of our decisions and way of life. It's not what God wants, it's what we've chosen for ourselves inadvertently through our careless actions. In essence... Judgment Day is humanity's destiny."_

_"Well... if what you say is true, then screw him. My son didn't deserve his 'fate'."_

_Ellison actually laughed. "Sarah, John's not even supposed to exist, according to the natural order of things. His fate was set before he was even conceived. It's almost as if he was chosen for the job..." he was silent for a minute. "Actually, he chose himself for the job, since he sent his own father back to do his business by you... so I suppose John did choose his own fate. Huh. I wonder who came first, Kyle or John. Well, obviously Kyle, but I wonder who sent Kyle back the first time, and how he happened to meet you..."_

Sarah blinked, and shook her cloudy thoughts away. It wasn't a conversation she wanted to relive.

"How about we just order a pizza?"

John nodded. "Mushrooms and onions please."

"My favorite," Sarah agreed with a smile. She stood up and headed out of the room, stopping in the doorway to glance back at her moping son. "John... go take a nap."

"I'm fine, just irritated," he answered.

"It wasn't a question."

"I said I was fine," he grumbled, but John stood up anyway and followed her out of the room.

* * *

Sarah sat on her bunk with her back against the wall, watching John toss and turn restlessly. He had been sleeping for hours; every once in a while mumbling something incoherent, and occasionally uttering a name that couldn't be mistaken. When the pizza came, she didn't have the heart to wake him up. He hadn't slept well in weeks, and Sarah had more than a little inkling as to why.

She flipped open her useless cell phone to check the time. Eight o'clock. Down in the basement they had no service, so their phones just turned into glorified watches. John hadn't even charged his in over a week. At first, he would sneak upstairs, which Sarah guessed, to check for any messages. Each time he would come back downstairs looking dejected. After a week or so, he stopped bothering altogether. Evidently, a certain terminator didn't have the obsessive teenaged tendencies to call their boyfriends every 10 minutes while they were away.

Sarah closed her cell phone and tapped her fingers on her denim covered thigh.

Should she, or shouldn't she?

John rolled over again and murmured agitatedly as she gazed at him.

Yeah, she should. And she was about to win the Best Mom Ever award for it, too.

* * *

Cameron dried the last dish and put it away in the cabinet. She wiped off the counter, laid the towel over the sink to dry, and turned out the kitchen light as she headed for the stairs.

She entered the bathroom and was pleased to see that Savannah had hung her own towel to dry, and even brushed her teeth without being told. Clicking the small night light on, she headed for Savannah's room.

It had all become routine. Dinner was at 5:30, then Savannah was allowed to watch TV before her bath, and then it was bedtime at 9:00. Of course, she would always get asked to read a story.

Cameron rounded the doorway and paused, seeing Savannah propped up in bed, already reading a book.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

Savannah held up the book for her to see. "_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_. It's Amanda's."

"May I see it?" Cameron skimmed through the book, checking random words. It was at a good reading level for her. "You are enjoying this book?"

"Uh huh," Savannah nodded.

Cameron returned the book to her, and not being needed further, got up and began tidying up the bedroom. An errant sock was put in the hamper, and a board game was put back on a shelf. Savannah's new friend Amanda had often come over to play, and the girls were very good about cleaning up after themselves, even after sleepovers.

When John Henry and Catherine had come, they brought with them Savannah's bunk beds from the old house. The first day after Cameron had put them back together, Savannah had asked if Amanda could sleep over. She didn't see any harm in it; she just made sure she didn't act like a "scary robot".

So she ate dinner with them, and pretended to sleep at night; things she had gradually stopped doing once Savannah had figured things out. If she did or said something that seemed goofy, Savannah always covered for her by distracting Amanda. It impressed Cameron, actually. In fact, it had even intrigued her enough for to do research on child development. It was really amazing how children changed, and how much Savannah had grown up since they first met her.

Once the bedroom was clean, Cameron walked back over to tuck Savannah in. "It's time to sleep now."

"Awww... just a few more minutes. Pleeeeease? I'm not even tired!"

Cameron was quite used to this argument by now. She simply held out her hand and waited for Savannah to hand over the book. She tucked the girl in, and handed her her favorite teddy bear.

"Cameron?"

"Yes, Savannah?"

"Will I get to go to school with Amanda next year?"

Cameron thought about that. She wasn't sure if Sarah had planned to keep her at home for home-schooling or not. She also wasn't sure how safe it was to send her to school.

"Do you want to go to her school?" Amanda attended a small private Christian school. It would be more difficult for anyone to track Savannah down there. Most likely, anyone would start looking in public schools. It's what she would do.

"Yes! I think it would be so much fun. Going to school at home is boring."

"We'll see what we can do, then," Cameron answered, without promising anything.

Savannah smiled, and snuggled down contentedly.

"Goodnight, Savannah." She kissed the girl on the forehead. She had done it before, but after her research (which also included parenting videos, and watching movies and TV with parent-child interactions), it was something she had done every night since. It seemed to make Savannah feel happier.

"Goodnight, Cameron. Love you."

That had become a regular thing, too. And it gave her a good feeling, almost as much as when John would say it to her.

"I love you too," she said quietly, before turning off the lamp and closing the door almost all the way. At first, she used to respond simply because it was expected. But, although not as strong as her attachment to John, Cameron cared about the girl. In fact, she had decided to make it a priority to protect her as much as John.

She went back downstairs and began her nightly patrol of the house. She secured the perimeter outside, and when she was satisfied all was safe, she returned back inside to shower and change into pajamas; a charade she continued because… well, she didn't actually have a reason. It was just part of the routine now.

She sat on the couch for hours, trying to find any information about some of the buildings Derek and Dani had found to be suspicious. It was frustrating, because all she could find was information on the buildings' history. Nothing on the current owners.

She jerked up when headlights suddenly shone threw the window. She had no need of a clock; she internally knew it was almost 2 am.

Standing up quickly, she moved to hide against the wall and peek through the curtain.

She didn't recognize the vehicle, but she knew the person stepping out of it.

She waited for her to reach the porch before opening the front door.

"Welcome back, Sarah."

* * *

_They were in a dark warehouse. John was running between stacks of crates as silently as he could._

"_John! John, where are you?" _

_He slid to a halt and ducked down, hoping he wasn't breathing too loudly._

"_John, it's me! You know me, John! Please, believe me!"_

_He heard the echo of her footsteps behind him and prayed he was hidden well enough._

"_John! Why are you doing this? Please! I love you, John! Please don't leave me here!"_

_Desperation clouded his judgment, and he ran towards the voice, not away. _

_And there she was. Her clothes torn, and deep cuts on her face revealed the metal underneath. _

"_John!"_

_She smiled and held out her hand to him. _

_He reached for it._

"_No! John!"_

_He turned, and there she was again. The skin of her face half missing, her left leg broken and dragging as she tried to run to him. _

"_John, run! Get away from it, John! Hurry!"_

_He heard the true panic in her voice. This was his Cameron. He began to run for her, but try as he might, his legs wouldn't move. He looked down to see why he wasn't running, and saw a metal spear sticking out of his chest. _

_He heard someone scream his name._

_He looked back up at Cameron and saw the look of pure agony on her face._

_This wasn't right. He looked back down at this chest, and saw the blood soaking his clothes and pooling at his feet. Why couldn't he feel it?_

_He tried to speak, to call out to her, but he couldn't form the words. His knees gave out, and he fell to the floor. _

_He tried to crawl to her, but his limbs felt heavy. He gave up and collapsed to the floor once more. _

_He felt her light touch on his face and turned his head to look her in the eyes one last time._

"_Wake up, John."_

_What? What did she mean wake up? He was awake. He was staring right at her. He should be dying…_

"_Cam…"_

"_It's all right. Wake up, John."_

John jerked awake, gasping for air as if he had been suffocating.

"Shhh. It's all right, John. I'm right here."

He felt gentle fingers brush his hair away from his face, and turned to see Cameron sitting on the edge of his bed, a look of concern on her face.

"You had a nightmare," she whispered.

"Cameron?"

John swiftly sat up and enveloped her in a tight hug. He felt her hands rub soothing circles on his back, and the anxiety from his dream slowly melted away.

"What are you doing here? When did you…"

"Not long ago," she answered. She slowly pulled away and studied his face closely. She could see it clearly, even in the darkness. He looked like he could sleep a lot longer. His eyes were dark and puffy; his forehead was creased from stress. She reached up and caressed his face, and felt the stubble on his cheeks.

Cameron suddenly felt sad. In that moment, John had resembled his future self more than ever. It was too early, too soon. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

"You look like shit, John."

John was taken aback by her honesty and choice of words, but only for a moment. He chuckled and lay back down on the bed, rubbing his face. "Yeah, thanks. I feel like shit."

"It's still early. You should get some more sleep."

"Eh, what time is it?"

"6:21 a.m."

John's eyebrows hiked up his forehead. "Holy hell, I've slept for almost 12 hours. I need to get up and start working." He glanced across the room and saw that his mom's bunk was empty. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"So this place finally drove mom crazy?"

"No, she was worried about you," Cameron said. "She sent me to…help."

"Oh." John felt his cheeks flush, and was glad for the cover of darkness. He covered his eyes with his arm. "She's been looking at me all weird for a couple of days now. Like she was waiting for me to spontaneously combust or something. It's just been exhausting trying to figure the damn thing out. I can't sleep at night, cause I'm constantly thinking about what I can try next, or what I already did that doesn't seem to be working, or…"

He paused, feeling the small bed dip under Cameron's weight, and a lithe body form itself around his under the covers. A cool hand travelled under his shirt and rested on his bare stomach. "You should sleep more," she said. "There is no rush today. I am fully capable of reprogramming a terminator."

"What?" John turned to meet Cameron's eyes, mere inches from his own. "You mean to tell me mmph…" Cameron's lips captured his, effectively silencing him. Her tongue claimed control, kissing him deeply as her hand began to roam.

He knew _exactly_ what she was doing, and knew he shouldn't let her get away with it. He needed to get up and start working, and he wanted to glare at her and tell her how thoroughly uncool it was to make him live here for three weeks trying to figure out how to do something she could have taught him in 5 minutes.

But… she was making it rather difficult to object to the current activity. He felt his body heating up under her touch, and wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her closer. "I thought you said I should sleep more."

Cameron moved her attention to his neck. "There's a 98% chance you'll be asleep within the hour."

John's hands paused in their own journey under her top. "Wow. That's almost mean. You don't play fair at all."

Cameron found a particularly sensitive spot, which elicited a moan deep in his chest. "That doesn't sound like a complaint."

"Cheater."

* * *

Derek tossed his burger wrapper back in the empty McDonald's bag and pulled out his cell phone. He only had to hit the send button twice, as the last person he called… actually, the last 25 calls he made… was to the person he wanted.

It didn't even ring. He heard it connect right to the voicemail and he snapped the phone shut, growling, "Damn it, Dani!"

He tossed the phone onto the driver seat and sighed in frustration.

He and Dani had split up almost immediately. When you didn't know where to look, you could cover twice the area separately.

If they didn't regroup at night, they called to check in. They knew where the other was at all times, or at least a general location at any rate.

Derek hadn't heard from Dani in two days.

He'd been calling her, but after the first few tries, the phone had stopped ringing altogether. He didn't want to panic. Recon was unpredictable, and sometimes, you ended up having to infiltrate yourself without warning.

He shouldn't be worried; Dani was very experienced. Hell, she was a fairly high ranked officer.

But this wasn't a time, place, or situation that she was used to.

So he had jumped in the car and drove to her last known location. He searched all day and all night, looking everywhere he could think of, but there was no sign of her.

There wasn't much left for him to do. He picked up the phone again and debated for a moment. He knew he had to tell them. Even if he could convince himself that there was nothing to worry about, whether or not there actually was, wasn't his decision to make.

He flipped open the phone and brought up his contacts list. Now, the question was…

He considered his options for a minute, then made his decision. He scrolled down a few names and hit the send button.

When again the line didn't ring and went straight to voicemail, he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it, wondering if it was his device that was defective. He waited for the beep before leaving a brief message. "John, call me back." That was all that was necessary.

He ended the call but left the phone open, debating once again.

He shrugged to himself and dialed another number.

"What the hell?" He shouted to the empty car when he got yet another immediate voicemail connection. He left the same message in Cameron's inbox before closing the phone and giving up. Calling Sarah was an option, but…

His phone rang, and he all but hit the roof when he jumped. He glanced at the caller ID and felt a little deflated.

He flipped the phone open once more and punched in a few numbers. "That was fast," he said.

"Is there a problem, Derek?" Cameron asked.

* * *

"Mornin', Mr. Ellison. You're here early today," John smiled and poured a generous amount of syrup over his pancakes.

James Ellison gave John a curious look before setting his own tray down across from him. "I've told you before to call me James. And where's your mother this morning?"

John shoved a large bite of pancake in his mouth and swallowed before answering. "She got bored. Ran screaming into the night."

"Good for her," James said, buttering some toast. "You seem to be in good spirits this morning."

"Am I?" John feigned indifference. "I guess sleep really does work wonders."

"Yeah," James said, unconvinced. "I guess it does."

They ate mostly in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. They were well used to it by now.

"How's the project coming along? I heard the thing was all patched up and ready to go."

Before John could answer, a hand was placed on his shoulder and the chair next to him pulled out.

Cameron slid into the chair beside him and smiled politely. "Good morning, Mr. Ellison."

"Uh, good morning, Cameron. I didn't know you were here."

"I arrived this morning," she explained.

"Oh." Ellison returned his focus back to his breakfast. For as much time as he spent with machines, eating breakfast with them didn't make his list of top 10 favorite things to do. This machine in particular made him uncomfortable. She had a way of looking at him as if she was seeing right through him; judging him almost. Even now, he could feel her eyes on him, and he had to concentrate to not fidget under her stare.

John cleared his throat and took a sip of his chocolate milk. He didn't need to tell her to knock it off, she understood completely.

Cameron tore her eyes away from Ellison and focused on John and his breakfast. "You look much better now," she said. "I should have come sooner."

"_Now, that was a weird thing to say,"_ Ellison thought. He scooped up some scrambled egg in with his toast and pretended he didn't hear anything.

"Nah, you were right. I needed to do this on my own."

Cameron didn't look convinced. John shrugged it off and looked at the empty table in front of her. "Maybe you should get something to eat," he said, glancing around at the various other breakfasters in the cafeteria meaningfully.

Cameron glanced around as well. "Okay," she agreed. She reached for his fork and gently snatched it from his fingers. Pulling his tray closer to her so it was between them both, she cut a piece of pancake. Careful not to drip syrup everywhere, she took a bite and handed John his fork back.

"I make better pancakes," she told him offhandedly, as if she wasn't aware of the two very different stares she was receiving.

John looked as if he was trying to decide between laughing and being angry with her. It looked as if it was the former, as his lips were twitching at the corners, and he was having a difficult time keeping the stern look on his face.

Ellison's look was different. She couldn't tell if he was horrified or disgusted. Either way, it didn't bother her, and she just smiled sweetly at him. She didn't trust or like the man much at all.

Ellison cleared his throat and abruptly stood up. "Please, excuse me. I have a lot of work to attend to. Have a nice day, John," he said, obviously ignoring Cameron.

"You too, James," John mumbled, nodding at him as he nearly ran from the table. He set his fork down and looked at Cameron. "Did you have to do that?"

"No, I didn't have to," Cameron said. "But it was funny."

Her blunt honestly caused him to bust out laughing. "You know, you can be obnoxious at times, but I love you for it. That just made my freaking day. Let's get going. These pancakes _are_ pretty terrible, and we have some work to do."

John tossed the contents of his tray in the trash and lead Cameron out of the cafeteria. "So, what did Derek want?"

Cameron waited for the elevator to clear before answering. "There's a situation, but it's being taken care of."

John just stared at her patiently.

When she didn't continue, he got a little worried. "Cameron… what was the situation?"

The elevator doors opened on their floor, and Cameron followed John quietly to the room that he had been working in for three weeks.

When the door closed behind them, John turned and pinned her with a stare. "Cameron, please don't make me ask…"

"Dani is missing," she said, walking past him and to the computer terminal.

"What? She's _missing?_ Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just did," she deadpanned. "Could you log in please?"

John stared at her, barely refraining himself from blowing up. "Cameron, we need to do something. We can't just…"

"Yes, we can. There's nothing we can do. Derek is looking for her, and John Henry is doing his best to help. That's all we can do."

"We can be helping!" John shouted.

Cameron stood back up from the desk and walked over to John, standing right in front of him calmly, her face unreadable.

"Stop and think about it, John," she said in a quiet yet stern voice. "In the future, you'll understand that you can't save everyone. Rescue missions are rarely successful, and even when they are, too many lives are always lost." She waited to see if he would argue. When he didn't she continued. "If you sent a rescue mission out to find everyone who went missing, I probably wouldn't have been created."

John stood staring at her, finding nothing he could say. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. She was right, of course. He knew the procedures. It was why they didn't go looking for Allison during the three weeks he spent in the future. Why they never went searching for her in the first place.

"It would be different if we knew where she was, John," Cameron continued, this time in a more soothing manner. "I would have gone for her myself in that case. But we don't know, so all we can do is our job here."

Again, she was absolutely right.

"Then let's get to work," John said, sighing in defeat. He logged into the terminal and connected everything. "Just don't make fun of me. Remember I don't know what I'm doing."

Cameron leaned over his shoulder and stared at the screen. A curious look crossed her face with just a hint of a grin.

"You got pretty close, John. I'm surprised."

"Yeah, right. You should've heard that thing screech yesterday."

"John!" She said exasperatedly. She stepped around the chair and sat down on his lap, pushing his hand away from the mouse.

"You can have the chair if you want," he said, looking around her at the screen.

"No, thank you," she said, scrolling through the screen.

John took the opportunity to wrap his arms around her tightly as he watched and listened as she explained what she was doing. He really hadn't been all that far off… Well, it took three weeks of guessing to get somewhat close. In all, reprogramming a terminator didn't actually consist of a whole lot of changes. You kept the base programming, but added your own mission directives that overrode Skynet's. You could never actually delete all of Skynet's orders, and that was the tricky part. Actually getting your code to override Skynet's. It was the part he utterly failed at. She didn't poke fun, though. In fact, she almost sounded a little proud at supposedly however close he got.

"So, it's done?" he asked, not long later.

"Yes, it's done." Cameron handed him the chip.

John smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "You're a life saver. What would I do without you?"

"Become an addict, live homeless until you were 22, get hunted by a T-X, marry a veterinarian, then work your way up on the military ladder until someone figured out you weren't as stupid as you sounded."

John blinked. "That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh."

He thought about what she had said. "That was really me, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was really you."

"Wow…" He tried to imagine himself being that person. "That must have freakin sucked. I now have a whole newfound appreciation of you, and my future self for sending you to me."

"Why?" Cameron asked. "You fared just fine. In fact, you probably had less problems leading the resistance without me, from what everyone who has come back since has told us."

John snorted and guided her out of the room, shaking his head dramatically. "Come on, a veterinarian?"

"She made a good field surgeon, and a good wife."

"And so will you," he countered. He stopped her in the hallway and looked both ways to make sure it was clear of an audience.

"Listen to me, Cam. You know me, and I know sometimes you know me better than I know myself. But when it comes to… some things… I can promise you I know myself best. And this I know for sure… I loved you in the future as much as I love you now. I didn't send you away from me, I sent you _to_ me. I wanted you in my life, and I knew what I was doing when I sent you back."

"I don't understand," she almost whispered. "How do you know?"

John grinned, and slowly looked her up and down, head to toe and back until his eyes met hers again. "Trust me. I knew the second I realized what you were… I didn't send the sexiest terminator Skynet ever created back in time, just to be my bodyguard."

John was suddenly pushed forcefully away. Not so much that he was injured, but enough that he stumbled all the way back to the adjacent wall.

"You _knew_ all along, and you still treated me that way?"

"Uh… well, no… I mean… no, Cameron, it wasn't like that!"

"Oh? Well then how _was_ it John? 'You never sleep, Cameron, why don't you do my laundry?' 'It's none of your business Cameron, stay out of my life!' 'I'm going out with Riley, Cameron, go do the dishes before mom comes home!'"

John was rendered speechless. What the hell was wrong with her? Where did this tantrum come from? Why and how is she having a tantrum anyway? Why did she have to bring all that crap up now?

"Cameron… that's not…"

Cameron turned and began walking down the hall, completely ignoring him.

"Cameron! Wait… Cameron!" John caught up to her and grabbed her arm. At first he thought she was just going to drag him down the hall with her, but she stopped. He turned her around to face him and caught her… smiling?

"Gotcha!" she said sassily. She kissed him lightly on his bottom lip before turning and continuing back down the hallway.

John was left standing in the middle of the hallway looking like an idiot, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

"I'm going to get you for that!" he shouted after her. _When I figure out what the hell you just did_, he thought.

"I've heard that before!" her voice floated back to him.

It was official, John decided. He had created a monster.

In his mind, he heard his future self laughing at him.

"Come on, Connor!" She called back. "We have work to do!"

* * *

Coming soon… very soon. As in, the next chapter is already half done. I love winter break!:

-We have a new T-888 to train.

-We have a child who needs to start some serious training… or has someone already started?

-Someone else just might go missing… but why?


	13. Chapter 13

Happy New Year everyone! As promised... :-) I stretched this one a bit so I could leave the dirty ugly stuff coming up for the next chapter. It's a holiday, afterall.

* * *

"I'd like a Big Mac, a large fry, and a chocolate shake."

"Is that all?" the girl asked over the speaker.

John glanced at Cameron, his tongue in his cheek. "You know what? Make that two chocolate shakes." He pulled out his wallet as he pulled up to the first window.

"If you're going to eat, I'm going to drive," Cameron said beside him.

"I was planning on it, babe. I was even thinking about switching with Goliath back there and stretching out for a nap," he said.

He glanced in the rearview mirror at the triple eight sitting awkwardly in the back seat. Hopefully the windows were tinted enough that nobody could see him. It would just look too odd.

"He has a name, John."

John rolled his eyes and wound his window up as he waited. "Yeah but, 'Seth' is just so _creepy._"

"It's not creepy. It's biblical. If you had a problem with it, you shouldn't have let John Henry name him."

John quirked an eyebrow at her attitude. "Seth was Cain and Abel's younger brother. So am I supposed to be worried that he's going to become self-aware too?" John asked, pointing to the backseat.

"It's highly unlikely," Cameron said. "Besides, I believe the point was that Seth took Abel's place."

"Yeah, that makes it so much less creepy," he grumbled. "What the hell is taking so long? Did they have to grow the damn potatoes first?"

Cameron ignored him and looked out her window. It was pretty normal for John to get cranky when he was tired and hungry.

"Finally… thought I was going to have to go in and make it myself," John grumbled as he pulled up to the pick-up window. The young girl handed him his bag and two shakes with a smile, and quickly shut her window with a less than sincere "thanks come again."

"Here," John said, handing Cameron a cold cup. "Your very own milkshake."

"Thank you," she said, taking a straw as well.

"I didn't want you to steal mine," he said as he pulled up to a parking spot. He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek to soften his remark. "Switch."

They were back on the road minutes later. John looked as if he'd never tasted anything better as he tore into his messy burger.

"You might want to chew a little," Cameron warned.

"You know what? I think you're spending way too much time with Derek. You're turning into a royal smart ass."

Cameron gave him a withering look. "It's sound medical advice. Digestion starts in the mouth. You should chew your food 32 times. You're averaging about eight before you swallow."

John swallowed his last bite of burger and took a sip of his shake. "Hasn't killed me ye…" He was suddenly leaned over, gripping the dashboard with his hand as he started choking.

Cameron kept her eyes on the road.

"Damn, went down the wrong pipe," he finally managed to say, still sporadically coughing.

"You're not supposed to eat and talk at the same time, either," she muttered.

John stuck his tongue out at her and pulled out the carton of fries. He offered them to her.

"Don't pretend like you can resist the power of the McDonald's French fry," John teased when she declined.

"Don't be such an idiot," she chastised, but took a French fry anyway.

John grinned and stuffed a few in his own mouth, and out of curiosity, watched her.

"Oh! Oh! Twenty four times Miss 'you should chew your food thirty two times'! Oww!" He rubbed his left arm furiously. "Why the hell did you hit me?"

"You were being immature and annoying."

"So you hit me? Do you even know how hard you hit? That's gonna leave a bruise… ow!" John jumped and cowered as close to his door as possible. "Stop smacking me!"

"Stop whining!" Cameron said mockingly.

"That's it!" John huffed and unbuckled his seatbelt. "I ain't sitting by you anymore. You're mean and no fun." He climbed over the center console and into the back seat.

"Hey!" He nearly pitched forward into the triple eight's lap when Cameron smacked his butt. He turned around furiously, rubbing his behind. "You are out of control! What's got you into this 'let's smack John Connor' mood? That's like, boyfriend abuse!" He turned to the terminator beside him, who was staring back at him blankly. "And you just let her hit me," he grumbled.

John turned to glare at the seat in front of him when he heard giggling. "Oh, it's on, sweetheart. It is _on_."

His words only served to make Cameron laugh harder. The sound of her laughter made John start chuckling too.

* * *

Sarah was at the door before Cameron even put the car in park. Three days? Was that all it really took?

She watched her son climb out of the back seat, giving Cameron a wide berth of space.

"You're back already?" she called from the porch. John looked up and smiled, and Sarah didn't miss that he was rubbing his left arm. "What happened?"

John rolled his eyes. "Cameron beat me up."

"What?" Sarah looked passed him at said cyborg.

"He was being an ass," Cameron explained.

"Oh," Sarah shrugged. "Okay then." She biffed her son on the head as he walked by.

John turned to glare at her in outrage. "What was that for?"

"You probably deserved it," Sarah said, before her attention was again diverted. "You brought _it_ here?" It was her turn to be outraged.

"Well, what else were we going to do with it?" John asked. "We should take this discussion inside the house," he said under his breath.

A shrill voice floated down the stairs. "John!"

John was barely in the house before Savannah nearly tackled him.

"Whoa! Hey, munchkin, let us in the house first, we have someone for you to meet," he said, smiling as he gave her ponytail a light tug.

The girl suddenly went rigid, and he heard a gasp escape her lips. Her arms automatically tightened around his waist.

"It's all right," he said soothingly. "He's a friend."

"But John," Savannah said quietly. "He's metal."

John's jaw dropped, and he stared down at the girl incredulously. Who taught her that term?

He quickly looked back up. Okay, so maybe it was more than a little obvious to someone who knew what to look for, but…

"Well, so is Cameron, and so is John Henry. You know that. And they're our friends, right?"

Savannah shook her head. "They're different. I don't like this one," she whispered. "He scares me."

"Don't worry," John said, talking loud enough for everyone to hear, especially his mother. "He's just here to help protect us. He won't hurt you. I promise."

"Come on, Savannah," Cameron said, stepping forward and offering her hand. She led the girl out of the room, glancing once back at John.

"What are we supposed to do with it, John," Sarah asked, pointing at the triple eight.

"Mom, seriously?"

"We don't need another one in the house, John!"

"Well, obviously we do!" John shot back. "Or did you already forget the reason for our recent remodeling jobs?"

"I'm not comfortable with it here. What if it goes bad? This was only your first time reprogramming. What if…"

"Cameron basically did it, not me."

"It can still go bad. She did."

"Mom! She couldn't help the car exploding!" He was tired of this argument.

"It doesn't matter. She tried to kill you. So can this one."

"Ugh, yes it does matter! Don't you get it? She _chose_ not to kill me! She _chose_ to override her mission! She chose me over Skynet!"

Sarah was shocked, but it didn't stop her argument. It only fueled it "Do you really think this one will _choose_ you, John? Do you really think it'll stop if something goes wrong?"

John didn't answer.

Sarah took his silence as a victory, but gave up the fight. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed. You better have everything under control," she warned, before stomping up the stairs.

John was left standing there staring at the triple eight's back. At some point, it had decided to monitor the outside through the front window. He wondered if it somehow felt awkward witnessing the argument.

"Um, sorry. Mom's a bit neurotic at times, and more than a bit unpredictable. Chances are, she'll wake up and be your best friend."

"She's right," 'Seth' said, not taking his eyes off the window.

John walked up beside him and stared out the window as well, trying to see anything in the darkness. It was a failure. "About what?" he asked.

He turned to look at him. "I wouldn't stop."

John felt a cold chill run down his spine, but shook it off. "Yeah… I know. Just don't decide to kill me tonight, all right? Cameron's got a temper, and that would pretty much piss her off."

The triple eight imitated John's half smile. "I know. I fought her."

* * *

"Ungh," John groaned, falling face down onto his bed. He lay there for several minutes completely still. After almost four weeks in the basement of Zeira Corp, his bed had never felt so good.

He heard footsteps walking down the stairs but didn't budge. _Just Cameron._

Cameron quietly made her way to the closet. She took off her jacket, pulled off her boots and jeans, and switched to a pair of John's old sweat pants. She had her own now, but his were lying on top, and she didn't want to make too much noise, afraid she'd wake the apparently sleeping John.

Barefoot now, she crept quietly back towards the stairs. She didn't even make it to the second step.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Cameron looked at the still form on the bed. "Upstairs," she answered.

"Why?"

Cameron looked at the closed door at the top of the stairs patiently. "You need to sleep, John."

"Yes, I know that." John finally turned his head to look at her. "That wasn't what I asked."

"I'll be back down later," she said, before climbing up the stairs.

John watched her until she disappeared. He mentally shrugged, and pulled a pillow over his head. He'd let her terminator-sit for now, at least.

* * *

"_John! Why are you doing this? Please! I love you, John! Please don't leave me here!"_

_Somewhere in his subconscious he recognized this dream. It was the same warehouse, the same boxes. _

_John ran towards the voice and froze when it wasn't Cameron he found._

_It was the triple eight._

_He grinned as he pulled out a 9 mm and shot John once in the chest._

_John fell to his knees, looking around for the one person he needed. _

"_Cam…!" he tried yelling, but his voice was choked. He could taste the blood in his mouth; feel it dripping down his chin. _

_He wasn't able to call for her. She wasn't going to come for him._

_The triple eight was suddenly only a few steps away. It aimed again._

_He was going to die alone. _

John sat up in bed, gripping the damp sheets covering his body. He pushed them off of him and moved to sit at the edge of the bed.

His t-shirt was soaked with sweat and his pants… where did his pants go? He was only clad in his boxers. All he remembered was falling asleep shortly after Cameron had left. He didn't remember waking up to undress.

Oh well. He looked around in the darkness for his clothes, the only light being the streetlight shining through the small window.

He spotted his jeans folded and placed on the desk chair, and his jacked draped over the back.

Damn. Maybe he didn't undress himself. Was he that out of it?

He got up and pulled the first pair of underwear and t-shirt he could grab out of the dresser and marched up the steps.

He made a beeline for the bathroom and quickly turned on the shower. He let the hot water relax him and push the remnants of the dream to the back of his mind. They were getting worse, and were one of the main reasons he'd been so exhausted lately.

He turned off the water and quickly dried himself off before wrapping the towel around his waste and stepping out of the shower. His mother _hated_ when people stepped out of the shower with wet feet. Personally, he thought that's what bath rugs were for. But nobody liked to piss Sarah Connor off, so they all obliged by the rule.

He wiped the mirror with his hand (another thing Sarah hated), and regarded his tired expression. He still looked like hell, but he didn't care. It was probably only just past midnight anyway. At least he wasn't covered in sweat.

After brushing his teeth, he quickly donned his clean clothes and stuffed his dirty ones in the bathroom hamper. He hung his towel to dry on the back of the door and turned the light off. He stepped out into the hallway, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness before making his way back down the steps.

He shuffled into the kitchen and nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned on the light.

"Holy shit! Cameron… you scared the hell out of me!" he said, his hand over his pounding heart.

"I'm sorry, John," she whispered, obviously scanning his physical appearance with some concern.

"It's all right. I just thought you were out with the… um, Seth."

"We were out. There are no threats. He's still watching for us."

"Right. What do you have there?" he asked, nodding towards the mug in her hands.

"I made you hot chocolate."

"Really? That's… thanks, Cam." He accepted the warm mug gratefully. It was extra chocolaty, with the little marshmallows on top, although he guessed the toothpaste was making it taste slightly off. He smiled, feeling coddled like a little kid. He glanced at the clock on the microwave.

"Come on," he said, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. "Let's go curl up on the couch and watch reruns of Gilligan's Island."

Cameron almost argued, but decided against it. He'd fall asleep soon enough.

And she was right. They didn't make it through one full episode of _Lassie_ before John was lightly snoring on her lap. She gently took the empty mug from his hands and placed it on the coffee table. She had added the extra chocolate to cover up the taste of the alcohol she put in the drink. It was just enough to relax him, and send him into a calmer sleep.

She was becoming more concerned about his nightmares. While he always had them, they had lately begun getting worse. The only times he seemed to sleep through the night was when she was with him. He'd still get nightmares, but she was able to get him to calm down without completely waking him up.

She had a lot of practice, of course. It was just like in the future.

She debated carrying John downstairs, but feared it would just wake him up again. She had tried to move once, but he grumbled in his sleep and clutched on to her leg. So she sat there, watching the sky slowly lighten through the window, listening to his steady breathing. The only thing she did was gently close his mouth when it slipped open so he'd stop drooling on her leg.

***************

At about 7:31 in the morning, Sarah strolled downstairs, showered and completely dressed. She smelled coffee and headed straight for the kitchen.

She had actually missed Cameron's presence in the mornings. For some reason, the cyborg always had the coffee ready for her. _Sucking up, probably. _

She filled a mug and went to sit in the living room, as they still hadn't replaced their kitchen table.

She found Cameron sitting on the couch, seemingly entranced staring out the window. As she neared, Cameron turned her head towards her and held a finger up to her mouth in a shushing gesture.

Sarah walked around the couch to the love seat, spotting her son curled up contentedly, his head in Cameron's lap.

"Rough night?" Sarah wagered.

Cameron nodded, and looked down at John's peaceful expression.

"Thanks for the coffee," Sarah whispered, taking a sip of the dark liquid.

Cameron just smiled. She didn't think telling Sarah that she had just given the directions to the triple eight was a very good idea. She'd probably just dump the whole pot.

Almost as if she had read her CPU, Sarah looked up at the triple eight standing by the window.

"So what are we going to call the damn thing? We can't just go around calling it 'it'," she asked.

Cameron followed Sarah's gaze. "His name is Seth. John Henry chose it."

"Creepy," John grumbled, pulling the blanket that had magically appeared at some point over his head. _Must've been the blanket fairy again._

"It's a popular male name," Cameron defended.

"If you dislike it so much, we could have just named it another variant of John. Maybe John Bob or something." Sarah said with grin.

"Shut up, mom."

Sarah heard gravel crunching out in the driveway, and caught the triple eight reaching for his gun. "It's just Derek Reese. Stand down," she ordered.

"Derek?" John asked, finally sitting up. "I didn't know he was coming back."

"I called him last night," Sarah explained, watching the front door. "He needs some rest. Dani knows where to find us…"

Derek walked in and shut the door behind him quietly. He jumped slightly when he saw everyone in the living room.

"Oh, how's everyone doin'?"

Sarah shrugged, and John grunted. Derek nodded in agreement. He picked up his bag and froze. The triple eight, now standing away from him in the corner, caught his eye.

His head whipped around to John, who was purposefully avoiding his gaze. He turned back to glare at the triple eight, grumbling something about "another one" under his breath as he trudged up the stairs.

"Now that's more like Derek," John said.

"He'll get used to it," the triple eight said. Three heads turned in surprise. It never spoke unless it was spoken to.

'Seth' looked straight at John. "In the future, you reprogram many of us. He is one of the few who accept it enough to help."

_There's that future thing again._ While he lived with it everyday of his life… literally slept with it… John didn't like to think about it if he could avoid it. But a thought occurred to him, one that thus far nobody had thought to ask. At least, as far as he knew.

"When did Judgment Day happen in your future?"

"The first attack by Skynet was August thirteenth, twenty eleven."

John felt his blood run cold. _That's practically right around the corner._ "So much for trying to stop it," he said softly.

"Judgment Day is inevitable."

"Yeah, that's what they keep saying… So, how did you manage to get captured? What was your original mission?"

"My original mission was to infiltrate Tech-Com and terminate your wife."

"My wife?"

"You were already dead."

"That's a nice thought," John said sarcastically. "Well, unless I was, um… married to someone else…" he stuttered quickly, glancing at Cameron out of the corner of his eye. "We know you failed your mission. What happened?"

"I was unaware Cameron Connor was a machine, she took me by surprise." Seth took a step forward and looked at Cameron almost thoughtfully. "An unknown model."

John was thoroughly confused. "You didn't know?" He looked at Cameron. "Unknown?"

"I'm not part of a series, John," Cameron said. "I'm actually a terminator Class TOK715. I'm one of a kind." She smiled almost self deprecatingly.

"Besides the obvious… what makes you so unique?" John asked.

Cameron looked a bit uncomfortable. "Do you remember when I glitched and thought I was Allison Young?"

"Yes," John said.

"No," Sarah said, her face clearly pissed off. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Oops. "Well, there was this time… Cameron glitched again and got amnesia. She genuinely thought she was the girl she was designed after. She didn't know who she really was, or _what_ she really was."

Sarah's mouth moved a few times, but she didn't say anything.

Cameron took over. "That's how I'm unique, John. I have the capability to genuinely think I am Allison. I would behave like her and I would think like her. I even have some of her memories programmed."

"How?"

Cameron's eyes were focused on the coffee table. "I interrogated her. Skynet kept constant surveillance on her while she was alone."

John saw how uncomfortable she was, and decided to let it go. It wasn't all that important anyway. "So how did he not have a clue what you were? Surely Skynet knew, right?"

"'Class' stands for 'classified'. The other terminators did not know I existed. Skynet kept it a secret, and any other machine that had too much contact with me had their chip completely destroyed."

"Why? What did it matter?" John asked.

"I don't know."

"Really?" Sarah asked skeptically.

Cameron met her gaze. "Really. Skynet didn't tell us everything."

John shrugged. "It only makes sense. Keep the drones in the dark, stay in control."

"I can only assume they didn't want you to somehow find out about me. I was their best chance at infiltration"

"Whatever," Sarah said, grabbing her mug from the table and standing up. "I've got stuff to do. We're seriously low on groceries."

"Wait, I'll get dressed and go with you," John said, pushing the blanket off.

"That's all right, John. You're exhausted. And I hate shopping with you anyway."

"I appreciate your honesty," he mumbled to himself. "Well you're not going out by yourself. Cameron will go with you," he said, loud enough she could hear this time.

Sarah snorted. "I think not. You can keep your metal muffin here with you."

"If it's not me, then it's Cameron or Seth. Take your pick."

"John for godssake I don't need a babysitter!"

"It's not safe to go out on your own. It's stupid, actually!" John yelled, animating with his hands. Cameron was keeping a firm grip on him, preventing him from jumping off the couch.

"You know what?" Sarah said, grabbing her purse and almost stomping towards the door. "As hard as this might be for you to understand, I sometimes just need a little time to myself!" And then she was gone, slamming the door behind her.

"Cameron, can you…"

"I'm not following her, John."

"Fine then. Seth…"

Cameron stood up and folded the blanket she had Seth retrieve for them when John had fallen asleep. "She's a competent, grown woman, John. She knows the risks. Nobody is following her. She's just going to Wal-Mart, she'll be fine."

"But…"

"No."

* * *

"What are you making?" John asked Savannah as he grabbed a can of coke from the fridge.

"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Do you want one too?"

"No thanks," John smiled. "I'm not very hungry."

"You should eat," Cameron said, walking in from the back porch. "Sarah will be fine."

"Cam it's been four hours. Even for a Wal-Mart trip, that's a little excessive."

"You called her only an hour ago." Cameron smiled at Savannah and pulled two more pieces of bread out of the bag.

"Yeah, and I just tried calling her again. She didn't answer." John leaned against the counter and ran his hand through his short hair. He was beyond worried.

"Okay," Cameron said.

"Okay?"

"Okay. Call again in fifteen minutes. If she doesn't answer, we'll go look for her."

"Really?" John was already chugging his coke, anxious to leave.

"But only if you eat this sandwich first."

John made a face and groaned. "But I hate jelly."

Giving him her best "don't make me smack you" look, Cameron grabbed his hand and placed the sandwich in it before disappearing upstairs. John inspected it, and found only peanut butter.

* * *

John paced back and forth through the living room. Seth stood perfectly still at the window, and that for some reason annoyed John immensely.

"Where the hell are they?" he asked out loud. Of course, he didn't get an answer.

He tried calling Cameron for about the forty-seventh time, but there was still no answer.

"I shouldn't have let her go alone," he mumbled, throwing his phone on the couch. "But what do I know, right? I'm just John Connor, future leader of the resistance. What do I know about anything? Obviously nothing, because nobody listens to me. Not even my own mother. How am I supposed to convince humanity to listen to me if my own freaking mother won't? Or my girlfriend for that matter? No wait, my fiancée, let's make it even better! My goddamn second in command! She'll be fine, John! She's a grown woman, John! Fucking most idiotic thing I've ever…"

The front door opened, and John was there in a split second. "Where is she? Did you find her?"

Cameron and Derek were awkwardly silent.

"I'm sorry, John," Cameron said. Her face was sad, and there was genuine regret in her voice.

"The car's gone," Derek said. "Wherever she is… they took the car, too."

_They_. _Gone. _

"She's strong, John," Derek continued. "It'll be all right. We'll find her. I won't stop looking until I do," he promised.

John was near catatonic. He wasn't really looking at anything, just staring off into space. His mother was missing. It was his fault. He should have followed her himself if he had to. He should have insisted more; should have fought harder.

He felt a gentle touch on his arm but he angrily pulled away.

"John…"

"No… don't you dare! You wouldn't follow her!" he yelled at Cameron. "I asked you to follow her, but you wouldn't! And now she's fucking missing! Just… just don't. Don't!" He held up his hands and stormed out of the room.

They heard the back door slam shut, leaving them standing in uncomfortable silence.

Derek looked at Cameron, and was shocked to see she looked as if she was about to burst into tears. He'd never seen her cry, and he never wanted to. He accepted her, and accepted John's relationship with her, but that didn't mean he forgot what she was. A crying terminator wasn't something he was comfortable with, no matter how much he respected her.

He placed a strong hand on her shoulder. "Cameron… he's just upset. It's not your fault."

"It is my fault. I disobeyed John's direct orders. I should have…"

"No," Derek shook his head. "I heard the whole thing. He didn't order you, he asked you. You rightfully denied him. You were honoring Sarah's request. You did the right thing. John could have turned around and demanded you go, but he didn't. I know you would have gone if he had actually ordered you. I've never seen you disobey his direct orders, even though I now understand you're fully capable of doing so. You disagreed, that's all. It wasn't the first time, and sweetheart it certainly won't be the last time. I would know. In fact, all of tech-com freaking knows… but either way, this isn't your fault. You were right before. Sarah makes her own decisions and rules. She knew what she was doing when she went out alone."

Cameron still looked very upset, but at least she didn't look like she was about to cry anymore. Derek was actually a little impressed by his self. That was the most he had ever spoken to her, and for him, that was a lot of talking in general. And it actually looked like he had said something right.

They heard the back door slam again, and turned to watch John stomp down to the basement, slamming that door behind him as well.

"Well how about that. He's getting better," Derek said.

"I don't understand," Cameron said, confused.

"Before, John would have sulked for a long while in self pity before actually doing anything productive. Look's like he cut it down to about two minutes. That's pretty impressive for an eighteen year old. He might just turn out to be a decent general yet." He turned back to Cameron. "Give him half an hour. He'll be okay by then."

* * *

Cameron gave him forty-five minutes, just to be safe. She gently closed the door behind her and quietly walked down the steps.

"Her credit card went through at 11:37 this morning," John started, hearing her arrive and not bothering with greetings. "I've hacked the Wal-Mart parking lot security cameras, but it doesn't show anything odd. She put the groceries in the trunk, returned the cart, got in the car, and drove off."

Cameron stood behind him watching the replay of security footage. She lightly touched his neck and did a quick scan of his vitals.

"I'm not going to bite your head off again, if that's what you're checking," John mumbled.

She ignored him. "Someone was in the car with her."

John's eyebrows furrowed and he zoomed in as much as possible. "How can you tell? I can't see a damn thing with the tinted windows. There's nobody in the passenger seat."

"It took her 52 seconds longer than usual to start the car. It was an amateur. Someone with more experience would have waited until she was already driving." Cameron leaned over him and placed her hand over his on the mouse. She could feel his pulse jump under her fingers, and it relaxed her a little more. He wasn't going to yell at her anymore.

She switched Cameras and watched Sarah drive out of the parking lot. "That's the wrong way."

"Oh, yeah. You're right. I didn't even think about that. Anyway, I just gotta hack into some traffic cameras and follow her for as long as I can. Hopefully they stay where I can see them, but I have a feeling that's hoping for a little too much."

"John Henry can help," she suggested hesitantly.

John seemed to freeze for an instant, before smacking himself on the forehead. "For fuck's sake why didn't I think of that? Son of a bitch, I'm an idiot. I need to go call them…"

"I already did."

John paused with his phone already flipped open. "You did? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Cameron took a step back and looked at the floor. "You needed time to cool off. Having something to do helps." Knowing he can do things by himself was important to John, and she wanted him to feel important… because he was. But she knew better than to tell him that.

"Right," John said, not totally fooled. He took in her almost submissive expression and sighed. He stood up and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Cam. I shouldn't have yelled at you before. It's not your fault. I'm just so goddamn pissed at myself, at my mom… at the whole situation. But that doesn't excuse me being an asshole, though."

"I understand, John," she said, hugging him back. "But you were right. It's at least partially my fault. I should have known better."

"Maybe," John said, pulling away but remaining close enough that she kept her arms around his waist. "We can't go back, though. It is what it is. We just have to deal with it now."

Cameron saw the frown on his face and decided he needed a distraction. John Henry was taking care of things at the moment, and John was no good to them completely stressed out. She ran her hand over his chest, feeling the new muscles through his t-shirt.

"You've been keeping up your work-out routine."

John blinked, his mental train completely derailing. "Um, yeah. They have a gym at Zeira Corp. I'd just go at night, sometimes in the morning to just… you're just now noticing?"

"No," she smiled her faint smile. "I'm just now mentioning it. You probably need some bigger shirts." She moved her hands up to his shoulders, and let them slide down his arms, pausing to feel his well-defined biceps. "Yes, your old button shirts won't fit now."

"Are you purposely trying to turn me on, or am I just having a perverse reaction to a completely non-sexual terminator scan?"

"Is it distracting you?" she asked far too innocently.

"Absolutely."

"Then it doesn't matter."

_Oh, I see how it is,_ John thought. _Two can play that game._

"You want to go for a run with me?" he asked.

She wasn't expecting that. "Okay, but only around the block. You know what Sarah missing really means, right?"

John slowly pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it on the bed. He quickly took a covert glace at her. Yeah, her eyes were glued.

"Of course I do. It means they know where we live. Or, at least, the general area." He unbuckled his jeans and pulled them off, taking the time to actually fold them nicely. He glanced up.

Yup, still glued. "So basically, that means Dani talked. And even for what little time I've known her, I don't doubt for one second it took an awful lot to pull it out of her."

He took his time digging through his drawer for a pair of gym shorts and an older t-shirt he cut the sleeves from.

"Which means there's probably a lot of not so nice things in store for my mom, and I'm doing my very, very best not to think about it. Okay?" He finally looked up and waited for some sort of acknowledgement that she heard him.

All he got was a nod.

"Good." He smiled, and pulled his shirt over his head. "Are you going to run in that?"


	14. Chapter 14

Well hello again! It's been an awfully long time... I'm currently student teaching, and my time is completely filled with lesson plans and activity sheets and grading and... when I'm not doing that, sleeping! For the free time I do waste (not on writing, obviously), you can blame DarkDanny :D Anyway, this is a much shorter chapter than we're used to with Fate, simply because I felt like after 2 months, SOMETHING needed to be posted, if for nothing else, to let you all know I'm alive. It's a bit of a lame one, but hey, under the circumstances it's the best I got lol. Send me the spelling errors and editting errors and general proof reading mishaps. I'm sure I've missed a few...

* * *

"Sarah."

Dani gently washed the dried blood from the woman's face with a torn piece of her shirt and a bit of the water from the canteen she'd been given.

"Sarah, you have to wake up."

That had only elicited a light moan.

"That's it," Dani soothed. "You need to wake up. You'll feel better after you drink some water. Please…"

Sarah pried her eyes open, and was glad it was dark in the… well, wherever she was.

"Ow," she groaned at the splitting headache she had. Her hand went to her head as her eyes closed tightly once again.

"Sarah," Dani said with a bit more authority. "I know it's hard, but trust me. You need to get some water in you."

_I never really cared for that girl_, Sarah thought to herself, recognizing the voice.

"Yeah, yeah I heard you," Sarah managed to croak. She felt Dani's arms grip her and help her sit up. She opened her eyes again and looked around for the first time. She couldn't see much, but there didn't seem to be too much to see anyway. They were just in an empty room, with dirty hard wood floors and what looked like a blanket that had been covering her a moment ago.

Dani handed her the canteen and she did her best to drink as much as possible, feeling extremely dehydrated. When she had her fill, she handed back the bottle and looked around once again.

"Where are we?"

Dani rolled her eyes in the darkness and sat against the wall beside her. "If I knew…"

"Yeah, good point," Sarah said. She took the chance to look at the girl in the sliver of light that was streaming in between the boards covering the only window.

"My God, Dani… are you all right?"

The girl's face was swollen, and barely recognizable. Her nose had been broken, both of her eyes bruised. Her cheeks had lacerations on them… as well as the rest of her body. As Sarah's eyes traveled lower, she could see the girl was holding her left wrist, and her clothes were shredded and horribly bloodstained.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Dani said, trying to get Sarah's focus away from her disheveled appearance. "You need to worry about yourself. We have to get you out of here."

Sarah ignored her and reached for her left hand, but Dani pulled it away.

"It was dislocated," Dani explained. "I had to fix it myself. Don't go over there…" she nodded towards the far corner. "I threw up when I did it," she said, embarrassment in her voice.

"Hey, it's all right." Sarah put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and gently held her close, afraid she might hurt any unseen injuries. "Whatever happened, whatever they did to you, it's going to be all right. We're both going to get out of here."

"It doesn't matter what they did to me," Dani whispered. "It's what they're bound to do to you."

"Yeah, well, I can take care of myself, so don't you worry. I don't really matter in the long run. The important thing is that they don't get to my son."

Dani actually laughed. "He's got enough metal protecting him. Besides, he's not really the one they want."

"What?" Sarah asked, confused.

There was a creaking sound as the door was pushed open. Something was tossed inside and fell to the floor.

"Eat up, bitches," she heard a man say, before he laughed and his footsteps walked away.

"That's appetizing," Sarah said dryly. Neither woman moved from their spots on the floor.

"We need to get out of here. Do they have any metal?" she asked.

"I don't think they do. At least, I never saw any. But again, I don't even know where the fuck we are. I've only seen about three rooms. They drag me down the hall about three doors down to the bathroom, and somewhere around there is where they… did everything else."

Sarah decided it best not to ask her to elaborate. "Which direction?"

"Um, the right."

"What about that window?"

"It's too high for me to see out, and I can't pry the boards off with my hands."

Suddenly, the lights in the room turned on, and the door to their room swung open once more. Two large men walked in and locked the door behind them.

Sarah and Dani were instantly on their feet.

"So… this is Sarah Connor," the one on the left said, a large grin on his face. Sarah noticed his teeth were mostly rotted, and he had a large scar that spanned the entire right side of his face. She did her best to keep her own face blank.

The man's head tilted, and his eyes narrowed. "I don't see the resemblance at all. Your bastard son must look like his father."

It was hard, but Sarah didn't react.

"Oh well. Trent, do it."

"No!" Dani shouted, and suddenly she was standing in front of Sarah, her arms held out protectively. "Walker, think about it. I'll tell you where to find her. I'll tell you anything you want. Please, just…"

There was a loud crack, and Dani was tossed to the floor. Walker shook out his left hand. "You should know better, Danielle. But then again, you always did things the hard way. That's probably why that bitch sent you back with us to begin with."

"You're one to talk, Walker. You were one of Connor's most trusted men. Look at you now…," Dani wiped the blood from her chin and spit the rest out of her mouth. "You're nothing now, but a worthless piece of…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Walker's boot made contact with her face.

"She never did know when to shut up," he said, turning back to Sarah. "Now, if you're smart, you'll just do as we say, and do it quietly. Don't fight us, Sarah. I'd really hate to have to kill you."

Sarah did her best not to roll her eyes. "Don't you thugs ever come up with better lines?"

* * *

Savannah climbed the stairs and shuffled down the hallway towards her room. She stopped outside of Sarah's room, seeing the door was open. She smiled. Sarah must be home.

She pushed the door open and peeked in.

"Sarah? "

John was sitting on the floor in Sarah's room. He had a lot of guns taken apart in pieces all around him. He glanced up from the shotgun he was cleaning

"Sarah's not home yet."

"Oh." Savannah stepped carefully around the weapons on the floor and made her way over to John. She sat down carefully beside him and tucked her knees under her chin.

"Can I help?" she asked.

John looked at her sideways but didn't pause in his cleaning. "No. You might get hurt."

"No I won't." She picked up two pieces off the floor.

"Savannah…" John warned.

John watched as the girl expertly fit the two pieces together. She handed it to John.

"Cameron showed me."

John stared at her in shock. "Cameron… showed you?"

Savannah nodded. "She said I should know."

John's first reaction was to be angry, that Savannah was too young to be messing with the weapons. That Cameron had no right to show her such things.

But she did have the right. She had as much right as he had.

And of course, she was right that Savannah should know. John himself was much younger than Savannah when he had learned. Children her age were fighting wars. So what was the problem?

He wouldn't wish such a childhood on anyone, especially Savannah. That was the problem.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Well, then…" John said, capping the bottle. "Did she show you how to shoot as well?"

Savannah's eyes got big, and she shook her head no.

"Well then we need to teach you. If you're going to handle the guns, and most especially if you're going to be a part of this family, you should learn how."

He pulled out the box of shells from Sarah's nightstand.

"For now, I'll show you the basics. Did Cameron give you the safety speech?" he asked.

"She said I should never, ever touch a gun unless you tell me to."

"Yeah… that sounds about right," John said. "And this is a very big secret…"

"I'm not allowed to tell anyone. I promised," she said.

"Okay then, sound's like you're ready."

******************

Sarah could feel herself slowly gaining consciousness. She could hear people talking around her, but couldn't quite make out the words. She tried to figure out where she was, but the only thing she could guess was that she was lying on the floor.

It was cold.

It was hard.

Her body was obviously in a supine position.

She heard someone walk across the room, and winced as the overhead lights were turned on.

"Oh, she's awake finally," the man named Trent said. "I told you that was too much."

"Shut the fuck up, and just get her ready!" Walker demanded.

Sarah tried to open her eyes when she felt thick arms lift her up, but she could only get one eye open. What happened to her left eye?

Trent lifted her up and placed her in a wooden chair. She was lucky it also had armrests, or she'd have fallen right back out of it.

Slowly, Sarah was able to think more clearly. They must have drugged her. Judging the pain throughout her body, they did God only knew what physically to her. She was fully dressed, at least, but there was a lot of blood on her shirt, and some splattered on her jeans. From the tenderness of her face, she probably had a broken nose.

"All right, let's get this started," she heard Walker mutter.

Sarah tried to glare at him through her god eye, but the light was still making it difficult. The drugs had given her a piercing headache to go with it.

Sarah took a deep breath and focused hard on Walker. He was standing a few feet in front of her, holding something black and rectangular.

"Now... listen up. We want that metal bitch of yours. We know what she is, and what she's capable of… and I don't think you have the slightest clue. Oh, what's the matter, Sarah? You look surprised."

Truthfully, she was. She had just assumed this was all a ploy to get her son. What did they want with…

"You see, we've been watching you. Yes… we already know where you live, it wasn't difficult. So we know all about your little pet metal… She's a pretty one, ain't she? Just as pretty now as the day she came out of the box… Sickening what he does with it. Don't you agree, mommy?"

Sarah looked him straight in the eye. "I don't know. She's more human than some humans I've met," she spat out. She was surprised to find that she had actually meant it, too.

She wasn't surprised, however, when a fist made connection with her face.

"Shut up, bitch."

Sarah leaned against the armrest of the chair and spit out the blood that filled her mouth, but she barely had time to take a breath. Walker grabbed her by her hair and suddenly she was on the floor once again.

"Now here's where you come in..."

* * *

Three days later.

******************

John sat on the front porch watching Savannah ride her bike in the street. It was a warm afternoon, and the sunshine felt good on his skin. He felt something rub up against his leg, and smiled when a gray furball jumped up on his lap.

"Hey, Dorothy," he muttered, scratching the kitten behind her ear. Movement around the side of the house caught his eye, and he turned to see Cameron walking up from the back yard, followed by Seth.

_Wonder what they're up to_, John thought to himself. He'd spent the majority of the last few days in the basement doing what he could to locate his mother (which admittedly wasn't much, but it kept is mind off of things). He didn't see Cameron much, other than when she'd come crawl in bed with him late at night. He knew she worked with Seth a lot, showing him the way "things were supposed to be done"… aka, the way Cameron preferred them to be done.

And that was all right by him. He trusted her.

He watched as Cameron stopped and said a few words to Seth. They both stood unnaturally straight and still, neither looking at each other as they spoke. It was odd watching the two cyborgs interact, especially Cameron. He wasn't used to seeing her in full machine mode. However, it surprisingly didn't disturb him. It was a part of who she was, and he accepted that.

Seth was apparently sent on a mission to collect the mail form the mailbox, leaving Cameron standing there watching Savannah struggle to pedal up the slight incline of the street. Her gaze traveled over to the porch where she found John watching her.

Unlike her steps from the backyard, as she walked over to him her gait was natural and relaxed. Her eyes scanned over him, taking in his introspective posture. She sat beside him on the steps and gazed at him quietly, reaching out to brush his arm with her fingers. She let them trail down his arm until she reached his hand, and entwined her fingers with his.

"Hi."

John smiled. "Hi yourself. What have you been up to?"

"Inventory. Packing. We won't be able to stay here much longer."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." John took his hand from hers and ran it through his growing hair. "Just not yet, we've been over this a dozen times."

"And that's about eleven times too many."

John turned to see his uncle walk out of the house, a stern look on his face. He was actually surprised Derek was home. He had been out day and night searching for the missing women, barely making appearances at the house to eat or sleep.

"We're only here because of you. We should have left a long time ago. Every minute we're here, the longer we're in danger. Especially you."

John looked away and ground his teeth together. He knew it was stupid to stay, but as long as they couldn't find his mother, he wasn't going to leave. Where would they go? Was anywhere actually safe?

He stood up and looked his uncle in the eye.

"You're free to go where you like. Nobody is keeping you here."

With that, he walked past him and back into the house, not even bothering to look back at Cameron.

* * *

John let the hot water pound on his back and the steam fill the shower. As much as he tried not to think, he couldn't help it when his mind wandered to the current situation.

His mother had been kidnapped, and after three days, they still didn't have a single clue as to where she was. He knew it wasn't safe to stay where they were. He knew his mother would have wanted him to leave; to go as far away as possible and forget about her.

He couldn't do that. He wouldn't. Why couldn't they understand that?

He felt a cold breeze against his skin and suddenly something was blocking the water. He didn't need to look to know what it was; the hand that traveled down his back was his answer.

He rested his forehead against the wall and sighed.

"I'm not being a very good leader, am I?"

Cameron remained quiet for a moment, before finally responding. "You're being John Connor."

John snorted. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Cameron moved closer so that she could see the side of his face. She kept her hand on his back as she spoke softly.

"John Connor leads with his heart. He values the life of every single person, no matter who they are. He never leaves a man behind. He'll risk his own life to save others, no matter what the cost. He is the strongest person I know, and his soldiers look up to him with respect, even if they don't always agree with him."

John was quiet for several minutes, thinking about what she said. He knew she chose her words carefully, and that sometimes meant she left some things unsaid.

"What should I do?" he asked.

"You don't need me to tell you what you should do, John. You already know."

John's chin quivered and he squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself under control.

"I can't leave her, Cameron. Just like I couldn't leave you. I won't leave her. She would never stop to find me, and by God..." he pounded his fist against the wall. "I won't stop until I find her."

Cameron slid her hand up to his shoulder. "John…"

"I know. I know…" His voice cracked on the last syllable and he lost control. The tears began to flow down his cheeks as he took a choked breath.

Cameron's arms were instantly around him, holding him up with her strong arms as sobs racked his body. She let the emotion run its course, offering only silent comfort. It wasn't the first time she held John Connor while he wept, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

* * *

Well, hopefully there won't be such a long break next time. We'll rescue Sarah in chapter 15, however, someone else might not make it through in one piece.


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay... yes, I'm back. It was one hell of a long semester. Now that student teaching is over and after three long years of grad school I finally got that damn Master's, I'm back to writing. Well, sort of. Job hunting and stuff like that is still taking up some of my time, but hey, whatever. Chapter 15 is here, right? Still a bit on the short side for Fate, however, I want to spend more quality time on the action in chapter 16. I've called upon DarkDanny to help me, so we're going to get some real Delusive quality work out as soon as we can. I got the mush down, he's got the action and guns and other manly things I'm no good at. So here you are, finally... chapter 15. It's a bit chopped and broken, but it's meant to be.**

* * *

Cameron stood in the kitchen for seventeen minutes, silently watching John without him knowing. It wasn't difficult to do, since their "remodeling" job required the removal of the wall that separated the kitchen and the living room. She stood by the sink drying dishes… or rather, "drying" the same plate over and over.

She was really worried about John. He had been quiet the rest of the afternoon and evening, only speaking to people in short answers. She knew he was depressed, and understandably so. Depression was basically a permanent part of John Connor's life; it wasn't something easily escaped considering the life they led, and his role in the future of mankind. She was used to comforting him on particularly bad days, and had always taken it upon herself to help him pull out of his occasional melancholic stupors. But this time was different. Nothing she did seemed to help.

Slowly she turned away and put the dish back in the cupboard. She looked at the mostly empty dish rack and began putting the silverware away as quietly as possible.

* * *

The yellow boring pieces were on the left; the Crunch Berries were on the right separated by color. It took him all of five minutes to do it, but it was a frustrating five minutes. The stupid cereal pieces kept sticking to his spoon, and the yellow pieces didn't want to stay in place. He gave up on getting them situated all in the same direction.

Sighing, he set the bowl down on the coffee table and stood up. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned loudly before stalking off downstairs to his room, making sure to leave the door open behind him. He knew Cameron had been "secretly" watching him, and hoped she'd take the invitation to join him.

He exchanged his jeans for a pair of old sweats and fell onto the bed with a sigh. He looked around the room, and in his head, started planning.

They wouldn't move completely, at least not yet. Some clothes, weapons, the essentials. That's all they'd need for a few days at a time. Derek would stay behind, just in case…

Well, yeah. Just in case.

Thunder rolled in the distance, and John found himself looking forward to it. While some kids were frightened of storms, John always loved them. He'd lay next to his mom at night and they'd count the seconds between lightening and the crack of thunder until he finally fell asleep.

"What are you smiling at?"

John watched as Cameron crawled onto the bed with him. His smile widened when she laid her head on his chest, and his fingers immediately tangled themselves in her soft hair.

"I was just remembering a rainy day long ago."

Cameron tilted her head up and regarded the relaxed look on his face. She knew he must have been thinking of Sarah, but thought better about mentioning her name. Instead, she slid her hand under his shirt and traced the newly defined muscles she found.

"Tell me about it?" she asked.

John closed his eyes and simply enjoyed her touch. He took a deep breath and waited for the next flash of lightning.

"One Mississippi… two Mississippi… three Mississippi…. four Mississippi… five."

A loud clap of thunder rumbled the basement.

"Now we wait for the next flash of lightning," he said. "When it flashes, we start counting, and stop when we hear the thunder. If we count less, it means the storm is moving closer. If we count more, the storm is moving away.

Cameron knew this, of course, but she played along anyway. When the next bolt of lightning flashed, she counted along.

"One… two…. three… four…"

The thunder rolled again, and she looked back up at him.

"I think it's going to be a big storm."

John nodded. "That's what the TV said. It's gonna be huge… but I love storms. I find them relaxing. They remind me of…."

The sound of his cell phone ringing cut him off. He reached for it on the floor where he'd tossed it and blinked at the brightness of the screen.

There was a brief moment when time seemed to slow. He read the name over and over on the screen, and watched Cameron's hand snatch the phone right out of his. Her thumb hit the answer button and the phone traveled to her ear. He watched her mouth move, but what came out of it confused him.

"Mom? Mom? Are you there?"

It was his own voice. John blinked and opened his own mouth as if to respond, but Cameron's hand swiftly covered his lips.

There was silence on the other end, and with a confused tilt of her head, she put the phone on speaker.

"Mom?"

Finally, they heard a faint whimper. "John?"

John nearly tore Cameron's arm off grabbing for the phone.

"Mom? Mom! It's me! Where are you? Are you okay? "

There was a low chuckle and a male voice spoke. "Ah, there you are, Johnny. It's about time. I was beginning to think the metal bitch would never give you the phone."

John growled and jumped off the bed, holding the phone away from Cameron's reach.

"Where's my mother?"

"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are we? She's with me, obviously. Where do you think she is? What the hell kind of 'leader of mankind' are you, if you can't do any better than that?"

John squeezed his eyes shut and grinded his teeth together. He felt a cool hand on his lower back and was surprised when it calmed him slightly.

"What is it that you want?"

"Now, you see? That wasn't too hard was it? It's all about the right questions, and what I want is simple…"

* * *

"Absofuckinglutely not!"

Cameron calmly stood at the other end of the room while John paced back and forth, occasionally kicking things in his path.

"We'll take Seth, we'll call Weaver, but I'm not just handing you over to those bastards!"

Cameron folded her arms, much like any human girl would do. "We can't call Weaver, I've tried. The number is no longer available."

John turned on his heels. "What? She… are you sure? Did you try John Henry?"

"Yes, and yes. They have their own mission and goals, John. They've helped us as much as they felt they could. We're on our own now." She looked down at the floor as he began pacing back and forth again. "I can take care of myself, and you. Nothing would…"

"No! You're not doing it!"

John stopped, turned and actually glared at her. They'd been arguing for well over half an hour. Actually, Cameron had barely said a word. John had been venting his frustration, and she let him go. Eventually he'd tire out enough to listen to reason. Meanwhile, Cameron played the phone conversation over in her head, trying to find an easy out, a loophole of some kind that might make the situation easier.

"_What I want is simple. I want her. Well, no let me rephrase that. You can keep the sex toy part, I just want her chip."_

"_Fuck you," John spat._

"_Okay, fine. I'll just kill mommy."_

_They heard the undeniable click and John screamed._

"_No! Stop! Please…"_

"_What will it be, Connor? Are you going to choose metal over human? Your own mother?"_

"_Please…"_

_A shot was fired, and a woman Cameron immediately recognized as Sarah Connor screamed. _

"_Stop!" John screamed as well, and Cameron wrapped her arms around him tight. _

"_What's it going to be?"_

"_Okay! Please don't hurt her. I'll do what you want."_

There wasn't really much of an option. They would meet at a designated area and make the exchange tomorrow.

Sarah for Cameron.

At least, that's what the "agreement" was.

"We'll find another way," John gritted through his teeth.

Lightning struck, and thunder immediately rumbled loudly, shaking the house around them.

"We'll find another way," Cameron agreed, and crawled back onto the bed.

John's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I've heard that tone before."

"What tone?" Cameron looked up innocently.

"Oh, now you're playing the 'I don't know what you're talking about, John' card."

Cameron tilted her head and regarded him with a straight face. "I don't know what you're talking about, John."

John wasn't sure if he should laugh or growl in frustration. He was saved from making that decision by a tiny voice.

Savannah hugged her stuffed bunny close as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. "Cameron?"

Cameron looked just as surprised as John to see that the girl had managed to sneak all the way downstairs undetected. Savannah didn't really need any invitation, however. As soon as they both looked up, the girl scrambled into the bed and huddled close to Cameron.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

Cameron smiled for her. "It's just a storm. It will pass." She looked up at John. "They always do."

John took the hint and lay down beside them, dropping the argument for the moment.

"Do you know how to tell if a storm is moving away, Savannah?"

* * *

Cameron waited an extra forty-five minutes to make sure John was fast asleep. He'd counted with Savannah for nearly an hour before they both finally fell asleep. Cameron had meanwhile spent the time coming up with "another way" to handle the situation.

She slowly untangled herself from the blankets and snuck quietly upstairs. Seth was staring out the living room window, just as still as she would always stand when on watch. It didn't take her long to explain.

"John Connor is not aware of this plan," he stated matter-of-factly.

"No… and he shouldn't be."

"Understood."

* * *

Derek felt something poke his arm, and jumping slightly, opened his eyes to two cyborgs staring at him.

"What the…."

He immediately reached for his gun that was no longer under his pillow.

"You won't be needing this," Cameron stated, holding up his Glock. "However, we require your assistance.

Derek looked back and forth between the two before glancing at his watch.

"You require my assistance at four in the morning?" he grumbled.

Cameron tilted her head. "Yes."

He glanced behind her. "Where's John?"

"Sleeping."

Derek stared blankly. "Are you about to ask me to do something that the general is going to have my balls for?"

Cameron stared back at him, a faint smile on her lips. "Not if you don't have the balls to do it."

* * *

John could feel his eyes on him, but he refused to look. He'd already looked five times and every time, his eyes would be focused elsewhere. He knew Seth was staring at him though.

He'd been staring at him all morning. It was starting to freak him out. He didn't say a word, just… watched him out of the corner of his eye.

Whatever. Stupid metal. He climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV and watched Cameron walk back from the neighbor's house.

She'd been acting strange too. He had woken up alone, and then all morning it seemed she did everything she could to avoid him. No warm smiles, gentle touches, or stolen kisses. She was in full machine-mode, as if her softer side never existed.

He watched her slide in behind the wheel and buckle herself in, without even a single glance in his direction.

"What did I do?" he asked.

She finally turned to look at him. "What did you do?"

"Yeah, what did I do for you to ignore me all morning?"

She tilted her head. "I was busy making sure all of the weapons were packed and prepared. Then I secured Savannah with the neighbors. "

John just stared at her and shook his head. He turned to look at the window as they pulled out of the driveway, Seth and Derek following behind at a safe distance in the mini-van.

"Do we even have a plan for this?" He asked, sounding thoroughly irritated.

"No," she stated simply. "I ran several possible scenarios through my processor, arriving at the most desirable outcome. However, we don't know what to expect."

"You could have just left it at 'No, John, we're fucked'," he mumbled.

A faint smile crossed her face. "We're not completely fucked, John."

* * *

They pulled up to an old warehouse, and John briefly wondered if Skynet cronies would ever tire of the old cliché. He unbuckled his seatbelt and checked that his gun was tucked in before stepping out of the vehicle. Cameron scanned the area for threats as she walked around the SUV to stand at his side.

"Remember, your safety is of primary importance. Anything that happens to me beyond this point is irrelevant."

"Bullshit." John spun her around to face him. "If you expect me to…"

"I do expect you to behave accordingly," she interrupted. Then, seemingly hesitantly, she smiled and caressed his cheek.

It felt weird, almost… wrong. Maybe it was because she was in full terminator mode, John wasn't sure. He pulled her close and leaned in.

"For luck," he whispered, before brushing his lips across hers.

She seemed to nearly freeze in his arms, and took several seconds to return the kiss.

John pulled away, feeling slightly rejected. Still, he chalked it up to her being so focused on everything else. He gave her a faint smile and opened his mouth, but she was already looking away.

He followed her gaze and saw two men walking out of the building.

* * *

Derek checked his weapons over, feeling more than awkward as they hid amongst some trees and bushes, watching over the SUV. The triple eight beside him constantly scanned the area, always falling back on the couple now standing outside the SUV.

Derek looked up in time to see the kiss. "Come on, Connor, get your head in the game…"

He glanced over at Seth, who was now extremely focused on… tying his shoe?

Shaking his head, he looked back up and saw two men walking out of the building. Lifting his rifle, he shifted his weight and caught the attention of the cyborg beside him. "They're here."

* * *

"Well if it isn't John Connor and his cyborg whore. Right on time, too."

John stared the man down. He did his best not to show any reaction. "Let's just get this over with. Where's my mother?"

The man who spoke laughed. "Oh… you're so dumb. Come on, we'll show you around the place…"

* * *

"They're taking them in," Seth stated, standing up slowly.

"I know the one on the left," Derek said. "Walker. He was one of Connor's best men. He came back with me. I would have never… " He shook his head and shouldered his Rifle. "I'm going to enjoy this way too much."

* * *

John followed Cameron in the door to be faced with five guns.

"Drop your weapons. All of them."

Cameron pulled her gun from her waistband and tossed it on the floor. When John didn't move, she pulled his out as well.

John was too busy staring at the men holding the guns, looking for… there. The man on the right. Slightly larger than the other men, standing a little too still, a little too focused. The one who immediately grabbed Cameron while two of the other men grabbed him.

It was as if everything was in slow motion as he struggled against their clutches. He watched as the terminator jabbed her with something in his hand. She jerked unnaturally before going limp in its arms.

He screamed for her, but she couldn't hear him. The last thing he saw was her body being dragged away.

* * *

He heard people talking around him and opened his eyes. His head was killing him, but he didn't have time to pay any attention to it. He tried moving his arms, but found he was bound tightly to a chair.

"John?"

He looked up to find Cameron chained to a table, looking at him with a pained expression.

"Ah, the savior is awake," the man who was obviously in charge said, as he turned around holding a sharp looking blade. "I thought I'd let you watch this part. It's going to be great fun. Her chip is the perfect size to house our AI… " He slowly smiled. "We watched her do it before. What do you call yours? John Henry?"

John struggled against the rope tying him to the chair. "Don't touch her!"

"I'm sorry, John" Cameron whispered. "I'm sorry."

"No!" He screamed, feeling blood start to drip down his hands where the rope was cutting open his wrists.

"I love you, John."

The man's lip curled up in a scowl. "Isn't that just… disgusting. I'm going to enjoy watching her kill you slowly."

John watched helplessly as he cut into Cameron's scalp.

* * *

**I know, I know... where's Sarah? And that annoying Dani girl? She's around. Trust me. She'll be here next chapter. And she's quite pissed. I didn't originally plan to end this here, however, I wanted to get this out so we had more time for Danny to help me with my action sequences. Everything that I left you confused with in this chapter is on purpose. It's going to all come together. I promise.**


	16. Chapter 16

**So... this is again took a little longer than I hoped. Real life has a tendency to do that I suppose. This chapter also turned out a little different than I expected. I just went with the flow, and this is what turned out. I hope nobody is disappointed :)**

**This was originally much longer. I cut it in half, due to the way I wrote it making it confusing as one chapter. Of course, that just means chapter 17 is already near completion and will be posted within another day or two. How fast I post it depends on how many reviews I get for this one :P  
**

* * *

John did his best not to look at her, but it was hard. She kept on staring at him, but her head never moved, and her eyes never blinked. He had held her gaze till the last moment, when the man removed her chip and her eyes just sort of… died. Unfortunately there wasn't much else you could look at when you were tied to a chair facing your lifeless fiancée while some lunatic stole her chip.

Where the hell was Derek? He was supposed to have been here already. This wasn't part of the plan. They were supposed to have got here way before they had a chance to mess with her chip. Now it was too late. He was going to kill her.

The man sighed impatiently and looked up at John curiously.

"No tears? That's a shame…" He looked down at Cameron's body and grinned lecherously. "Seems almost a sin to waste something so pretty, but…" He shrugged and set his pliers aside. "Nobody is going to listen to some little girl."

John had been pretending not to listen, staring off into space seemingly uninterested. This though, caught his attention, and he immediately turned his attention to the man's face.

"What do you mean?"

The man seemed to consider how much he could say before opening his mouth again.

"John of Arc aside, I don't think a teenaged girl would do very well rallying the masses, do you?" He nodded to the triple eight sitting in the corner. "That's why we have him."

John's gaze tracked to the corner as well. Yeah, it was pretty damn large as far as terminators went. He would barely be an effective infiltrator, unless he was infiltrating as a body builder. It reminded John of the old T-800 he met as a boy, and he wondered if this one might have actually been another model of that series, rather than the T-888 series. Yeah, he was big, he was scary; people would probably follow him in a heartbeat. Or… at least be too scared to do otherwise.

"Rallying the masses… you mean, getting people to work for Skynet; to work for the machines. You know what I don't get?" John leaned forward in his chair as far as his bound hands would let him. "I don't understand how you can side against your own race. Do you realize what you're helping to create? You might as well consider yourself responsible for the deaths of billions of people."

Winston walked around the table, pulling another chair with him. He placed the chair right in front of John and straddled the seat, leaning his arms over the back and folding his hands. He just gazed at John for several long moments with a blank expression. For his part, John did an amazing job not squirming under the scrutiny.

"I side with the enemy, you sleep with the enemy. At the end of the day, side or sleep, they both start with an 'S'." He stood back up and this time walked over to the terminator in the corner and began cutting into its scalp. "Think of it this way… I'm doing you a favor. I'm insuring your girlfriend's existence. Though…" He carefully removed the chip. "I'm willing to bet you won't be alive to benefit from it."

John watched with a sense of dread as the man inserted the new chip into Cameron's port.

* * *

Derek wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and sighed. _Damn the general left and right. _It wasn't his nephew he was referring to in the internal monologue he was having with himself; it was his damn wife. Or rather, his soon to be wife. And rather, future general-to-be, but it didn't matter. _Damn them both anyhow._

It was this stupid master plan. They go in. They get caught. Derek and the other cyborg go in, save the day, and blow the place to hell. They were banking on the fact that Derek hadn't been spending enough time at the house as of late for anyone to know he was around. At least, that's what they were hoping. They at least knew for sure that they didn't know about the extra cyborg.

Again, "knowing for sure" was a little exaggerated. The whole plan was just way too risky for his liking, but Cameron had insisted that it was the only way. John wouldn't let her go alone, and even went as far as nearly throwing a temper tantrum.

"_I'm not staying behind! They'll be distracted enough by me that it'll give you time to find my mother! They expect me to come with her. It would seem too odd if I didn't."_

"_John… perhaps it would seem more odd that I didn't go alone. Perhaps they expect me to sneak away and leave you for your own protection."_

_John had just stared at her, and for a moment, Derek thought he might actually cry. "You would do that?"_

_Cameron seemed to take a moment to consider her answer, glancing behind him at the cyborg standing in the shadows. _

"_You know I wouldn't."_

He only hoped his nephew didn't do anything stupid. He was only filled in on part of the plan, and his emotional reaction may or may not have a negative effect. Cameron claimed it would actually make it all the more believable, but Derek had his doubts.

Royal pain in the ass. He should have just drugged the kid and tied him in a closet. This young John wasn't exactly known for making rational decisions when it came to Cameron, though he sincerely hoped, for his sake, that he proved otherwise.

Derek shook his head and stared at the cyborg several yards ahead of him. He waited for what seemed like hours, but was really only about five minutes, until he finally saw the signal. Well it was about damn time.

"Let the games begin," he muttered to himself.

It all took less than a minute. Derek watched as the cyborg tossed the first man through a window, backhanded the second into unconsciousness, and punched the third in the chest, neatly breaking a rib or two. The fourth man cowered away, and when the triple eight's gaze met his, he backed right into a stack of boxes, fell backwards in a flip, and half ran, half crawled out of the building. The machine tilted its head and turned, a smirk clearly on his lips.

Derek shook his head and finally completely walked into the room. "Show off." He just barely managed to evade a punch thrown at his harm. "Hey, I need this arm."

"You could survive without it."

Derek pointed his colt at the back of the cyborg's head as it walked passed him, and pretended to shoot.

"That would not kill me Derek."

Derek blinked and lowered the gun, a confused look on his face. Apparently triple eights had eyes in the back of their head.

They separated to cover more ground, faster. The rest of the first floor was empty, and it just didn't feel right to Derek. "I would have thought Skynet would have more security than a handful of wimpy boys," he said, as he met back up with his cyborg companion.

"They have metal."

Derek momentarily froze and had to take a few quick steps to catch up with the machine as they climbed the stairs. "What? How the fuck do you know?" he asked suspiciously.

The machine didn't stop, or even bother to turn and look at him. "It's the only reason they wouldn't feel the need for a lot of human security. The real question is…" They stopped at the second floor landing. "How many do they have?"

* * *

The wall was cold, and it felt good against her cheek. The woman in her arms was burning up with fever, which in turn made her own chest sweat.

Sarah was reclined against her, only half conscious. She had lost a lot of blood, and the gunshot wound in her leg had become infected. Dani had done her best to stop the bleeding, but could think of nothing else to do but offer some sort of comfort.

Both women knew deep down that without help, the injury would probably be fatal.

"Dani…" Sarah whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I need… you to do… me a favor." She heard her swallow hard. "Tell John…"

"No," Dani said, with more force and strength than she truly felt. "I don't want to hear it. I won't hear it."

"But…"

"No buts. I grew up hearing stories about you. The legendary Sarah Connor, the woman who taught the leader of the resistance everything he knew. The woman who never gave up, even in the face of death. I will not let you taint my childhood, Sarah. I won't let you kill my hero."

Despite the unveiled seriousness of her words, the underlying sarcasm nevertheless made Sarah smile.

"Alright," she managed to croak. "I'll try to…" She trailed off and took a deep breath as her body shivered. Dani's arms around her tightened slightly.

"Thank you," Sarah tried again.

Dani looked down at her, confused. "For what? For talking when I should have died first?" She looked away, feeling utterly ashamed. While she didn't give away much, she gave away enough. Just enough…

Sarah shook her head. "For fighting with my son. For helping me as best as you can. You may not be the most… polite person, or even the most endearing… but I can see now what my son saw in you."

"I wish I could," Dani whispered. "I did a lot of terrible things that I'm not exactly proud of."

"Maybe that's your problem. You're too busy dwelling on the way you were, instead of the way you can be."

They were interrupted when the door suddenly exploded inward, showering them in wood splinters. Seth stepped past the door he kicked in and looked down at the two females huddled on the floor, one looking thoroughly unamused, the other screaming her head off.

"You know, I never thought I'd ever say that I am glad women insist on talking so much." Derek followed the cyborg into the room and winced. "Dani please, the metal is with us. Shut the hell up, will you?" He looked down at the silent woman in her arms and cursed.

"Son of a bitch, we have to get her out of here," he said. He handed Dani his gun as he lifted the frail woman up in his arms and cradled her against him. Sarah rested her head on his shoulder and bit back the urge to cry out in agony. "Martin, you're with me."

* * *

Her eyes glowed blue for a brief moment before she slowly sat up. John shivered, and swallowed a lump in his throat.

_It's not her. It's not her. It's not her._ Even though he knew it in his mind, his heart only saw Cameron. And when she turned to him and smiled, his gut clenched. She slowly climbed off the table and stalked over to him.

_It's not her. It's not her. _She reached out and caressed his cheek, letting her hand slide down his neck.

_It's not her! _In one swift motion, she slapped him so hard across the face the chair nearly tipped, and she stepped behind him. She tore the rope away like it was paper, and John instinctively brought his arms forward and rubbed his bruised and bloody wrists.

Later, he would realize that what he should have done was run. However, love and slight panic kept him in the chair, but not for long. Slender, yet impossibly strong hands lifted him up and threw him against the wall. He slid down to the floor and looked up at her in a hazy fog.

He wanted to call her name, but what was the point? It wasn't her. Not really. He tried to stand up but fell right back down when his head started spinning.

_John Connor, you are so screwed_.

* * *

Derek laid Sarah on the back seat, careful not to jostle her any more than necessary. He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket and looked up.

"Do you mind if I…"

"Do what you have to do, Reese," she managed to get out through clenched teeth.

Derek carefully cut through denim, and removed the pant leg of her jeans. He sighed in relief and wiped his forehead.

It wasn't pretty, no. It was red and inflamed, clearly infected. But it wasn't as terrible as it could have been.

"How bad is it?" Sarah asked hesitantly.

He looked up at her face and gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry, ma'am. These are the hairiest I've ever seen your legs, and it's quite a turn-off."

Sarah would have smacked him if she had the energy. "Shut the hell up, asshole."

Derek chuckled and shook his head. "I have to get back in there. There's water in the trunk. Both of you need to drink, and try washing this off as best you can. It's all we can do for now until we can get out of here."

Sarah realized he didn't quite answer her question, but that was enough of an answer in itself. She watched his face carefully. She could see a lot of his brother in him, and in turn, a lot of her own son.

"Where is John?"

* * *

John attempted to crawl away from her, knowing it was completely futile. The sudden foot in his gut proved it. He rolled over on to his side and wondered if she had ruptured an internal organ, it hurt so badly.

Why didn't she just kill him? It would be so easy. He had nothing to fight her with. He had no chance.

He looked around the room. The man was still standing behind the table, grinning from ear to ear. Apparently when you're close to death weird images pop into your head, because John was suddenly imagining him holding a fat cat and petting it with a maniacal look on his face.

He mentally slapped himself and refocused. The door. Would it be locked? Probably not. Maybe he could make a run for it…

He screamed as he was picked up once again and thrown against the far wall with such force that crackling paint chips practically exploded off it.

Well, at least he was closer to the door now.

He wasn't sure how, but he managed to ignore the pain radiating through his torso and clambered to his feet. He ran the four steps it took to get to the door and ran right into a wall.

Well, not a wall per se. More like a six-foot tall terminator whose arms were suddenly around him like a protective cage. John was effortlessly spun around in the doorway as the sound of gunshots echoed though the hallway. He couldn't see a damn thing, but he could feel the machine jerk with every round that hit him in the back.

"Go," the machine quietly ordered.

"No," John argued as he tried pushing away. "You can't hurt her. Please. You…" A new pair of strong hands was suddenly pulling him away. This time, they belonged to his uncle.

"Trust me," Seth said, right before he was grabbed and slammed into the doorframe. He recovered quickly, turned, and backhanded Cameron back into the room.

John realized he was being dragged away. "No, wait! He…"

The man who had taken Cameron's chip ran out of the room, and froze upon seeing the two men in the hall. Derek froze, and John saw the coldest look he had ever seen on his uncle shroud his face.

"Winston," Derek growled.

The man looked genuinely shocked. "Reese. What a not so pleasant surprise." He looked between John and Derek, perhaps noticing the similarities, perhaps just kicking himself for his royal screw up.

John wasn't paying attention though. He was too busy being panicked by the crashes and loud thuds emanating from the room.

Derek raised his gun, but Winston raised his own hands, a small object in his right hand. It was too dark in the hallway for John to see what it was, but Derek's body stiffened.

"How about I just give you a three minute head start instead?" Winston sneered.

"Run!" Derek shouted, and pushed John towards the stairs.

John didn't need any more prompting. When someone told him to run, they usually meant haul ass as fast as you can and get the hell out of there. So he ran. Okay, well he was half being dragged by his much faster uncle, but that was fine. He had no idea where he was going.

They ran out of the building through the door John had first entered. The SUV was still parked where they left it, but they didn't run for it. Instead, they ran up the road, and John saw the mini van come into view. The van started driving right towards them, and John saw Dani though the windshield. She screeched to a stop and jumped out to open the side door.

"John!"

Sarah was sitting in the back seat, her back against the side, and her leg resting on the seat. She was pale and drenched in sweat, but her eyes were completely focused on him. "You're hurt," she stated matter-of-factly.

"It's just a nose bleed," he said, as he carefully climbed into the back with her.

"We have to go." Derek grabbed the door handle and began sliding the door shut.

A hand stopped him, and the door was suddenly pushed back open so hard the whole van shook. "No! She's still in there!"

"John, we don't have ti…"

Derek was interrupted as the building behind them suddenly exploded.

* * *

***GASP* A cliffhanger again! How mean! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello again, friends. Holy crap, a new chapter and there wasn't a three month wait? I know I actually promised this last week, but I had been called on a few unexpected (yet definitely welcomed) interviews last week, and I must be moved out of my current apartment by this Saturday, so I've been busy packing all my crap and moving out. Anyway, this is my longest chapter since ch 13, and I really enjoyed writing it. I must say it took a completely different turn than I expected, but I always just write what the characters tell me to. I hope you enjoy it. **

* * *

Under the best of circumstances, the TOK 715 had little chance against a T-888 unit. It's size, weight, and overall strength topped the smaller unit by far. Without any weapons or tools, the TOK715 was pretty much out of luck.

At least that's what the triple eight was banking on. At the moment, the TOK715 unit had the upper hand. She had him by the shirt and slammed him into the wall.

There was an issue of… damaging her. John would be really upset if the damage was severe, even if it was repairable. However, he heard Derek Reese shouting, and while he wasn't 100% sure why they were running, logic told him he probably didn't have much time to waste. There was really only one reason to run that he could think of.

That meant… John would just have to get over it.

He looked down at the smaller cyborg who tilted her head slightly. He raised his arms and brought them down hard on her elbow joints. He didn't waist any time wondering if they were broken, the important thing was that she let go. He grabbed her right hand and spun around, twisting her arm awkwardly and leaving it immobile in his strong grip. He slammed her against the wall and grabbed her hair with his free hand.

The man had left her port open… how totally convenient. He reached in with his fingers, turned, and pulled out the CPU. The cyborg in his arms froze, and without his support, would have lost balance and collapsed. He shoved the CPU in his pocket and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

He ran as fast as he could downstairs and to the nearest exit, having made note of every door leading out during his sweep of the area. He took two steps out the back door when he heard it; a sudden loud explosion behind him. He reacted instantaneously. He pulled the female cyborg in front of his body just before the second explosion reached them. They were flown forward, the triple eight landing on top of the TOK715. His HUD registered severe damage just before he went offline.

* * *

"Nooo!" John was furiously trying to break out of his uncle's grasp, but the pain in his torso hindered his strength.

"John, we have to go!" Derek attempted to shove him into the van, but John was a hell of a lot stronger than expected, even injured. Yes, Derek noticed the way he had been running and moving. He suspected the kid had sustained a broken rib or two.

"No! We can't leave her! Let me go!"

Derek had had enough. With one finger, he applied pressure to his nephew's throat right under his Adam's apple. It didn't take much effort at all to get him to stop, John's hands immediately grabbing at his own. With his other hand, Derek grabbed him by the back of his shirt and nearly tossed him in the van.

"Your mother needs immediate attention. Pull yourself together, soldier."

John sat on the floor of the van glaring at his uncle. He turned away to look at his mother, who really did look like death warmed over. "Mom?"

Sarah smiled and reached out her hand. She pushed his overgrown hair away from his face and sighed. "You need a haircut. I'm surprised Cameron hasn't tied you down and done it herself already."

He stared at his mom's leg, not really seeing it. Her attempt at humor not really having the desired effect. Cameron…

"She'll be all right, John."

He looked back up at his mom's face and saw genuine concern there. He reached for her hand and took it in his own, bringing it to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "If only I could be more like you."

They felt the van shake as Derek climbed in the driver's seat and slammed the door. "Buckle up. Keep her as still as possible," Derek commanded as he started the engine.

John felt his mother squeeze his hand before she closed her eyes.

* * *

The triple eight came back online and immediately ran a diagnostic scan. His left leg had been damaged when he was thrown, but the most pressing issue was that he was still burning. He pushed himself off the TOK715 and rolled on the ground to put out the fire on his back. Seventy percent of his flesh had been burned beyond repair. His endoskeleton was thirty percent exposed on his back.

He would have to be destroyed.

He pulled the TOK715 back into his arms and carried her around the burning building to the SUV. He carefully placed her in the trunk and climbed in behind the wheel. They pulled away just as sirens started blaring in the distance.

* * *

Derek gently placed Sarah on her bed and looked down at her leg. "The bullet went all the way through, so that's a plus. Improper care brought infection, but with treatment, I won't have to saw through your leg with a butter knife."

Sarah just stared at him. "What the hell are we going to do, rob a hospital?"

"Most likely," Derek deadpanned. "You'll survive, fortunately. You know how much I love seeing your face smile like a ray of sunshine in the morning. Just like that." He pointed to the frown on her face and smirked.

"I'll give you a ray of fuckin' sun-"

"Okay okay, fine. I'll go get the first aid kit, and try to figure out what the hell we're going to do." He nodded at John, who was standing off to the side watching, before escaping out of the dragon's lair.

"Hey you… get over here." Sarah patted the bed beside her and watched her son hesitate for a moment before lying down beside her. A flash of memory from when John was much younger made her almost sad. She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, much like she used to do many years ago.

John closed his eyes at the touch. It was a small comfort, one that had always made him feel safe and loved. "Mom…?"

Sarah waited for a moment, before tugging him closer and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

It hurt his chest, but he didn't care. He needed a mom-hug in the very worst way. He had almost lost her, and the thought scared him to death. He still needed his mother, and the comfort and love she always gave him. Especially now.

"She's going to be all right, John. She's survived explosions before. And this one…"

John shook his head, and Sarah felt warm tears wet her shoulder. "She can't come back mom. She can't. He has her chip. He took her. She… she…"

The floodgates opened, and Sarah held her son as tight as possible while he wept.

This wasn't a moment she ever wanted to have to deal with. Not for selfish reasons, no. She never wanted her son to have to live through this kind of traumatic heartbreak. As much as she wasn't a fan of the idea of her son dating… marrying… loving a machine, she had grudgingly begun accepting it.

Dating a human was risky when you were a Connor; they had both learned that the hard way. But Cameron was different. She'd never leave him, never hurt him, and would never… die.

_The other shoe always has to fall at some point_, Sarah mused. She wasn't really sure what to say; so instead she remained silent, offering what comfort she could.

* * *

Derek stood with his back against the wall right outside the bedroom door. He stared at the first aid box in his hands and listened to the sounds of his nephew weeping. He had heard the sound once before, and it had utterly terrified him.

"_Sir?" The soldier was young, no more than nineteen years, but the promise he'd shown had earned him a spot under John Connor's wing. _

"_Yes, Private Andrews, what is it?" Connor was in a meeting with his highest officers, leaning over a yellowed map spread out over a table. He looked up at the young man in slight irritation. _

"_Um…" The boy looked around the room at the other men and women, all staring at him with barely tolerable looks on their faces. _

"_Spit it out, son, I haven't got all day," Connor growled. _

"_Uh, yes sir, sorry sir, I um…" He cleared his throat and stared at the floor. "It's your wife, sir. We haven't heard from her, or her team, in over thirteen hours."_

Derek rubbed his eyes, remembering the stoic look that had settled over his general's face. He had raised hell for sure. Barged into the communications room and chewed every last one of them out for not telling him sooner. Most of them had run from the room and away from his rampage. He went from terminal to terminal, mumbling to himself the entire time like a mad man. Derek had stood in the doorway, hating what he was witnessing, but not wanting to leave his general… and friend alone.

Neither did his head of communications. Derek smiled, remembering the crazy old bitch.

_She wasn't really that old, only a few years older than John himself, but if you asked her she was old as dirt. She'd been one of the first people to join up with John, and one of the very few people who felt at complete ease with the generals Connor. _

_She respected him and his wife, obeyed him, honored him… but she didn't fear him like many of his men did. No, that woman had bigger balls than most of the ranking officers, and Derek decided they had to be made of steel when she bluntly tore the microphone from John's hands and told him to knock it the fuck off._

"_You just scared my entire team into wetting themselves and for what? For doing their jobs? You know damn well it's normal to lose communications during such a distant mission."_

_John had stood up and kicked the chair out of his way._

"_This one is different! You know this, Kate!" _

"_Get a hold of yourself, John. You can't let your men see you panic over a machine."_

_John spun around, and for the first time ever, Derek feared he'd have to stop the general from slapping a woman into the next week._

"_Oh, don't look at me like that," Kate continued, evidently not giving a damn about the death glare she was receiving. "It's true, and you know it. No matter what she is to you, she's still a machine to everyone else. They might respect her, follow her… hell a lot even like her. But she's still just… a… machine…"_

"_She's not _just_ a machine!" His arm cocked back but Kate had stopped him right before he punched a hole through the wall. Her hand clasped his shoulder and her voice lowered to a whisper._

"_I know, John. I know. I'm scared too." And she was, Derek could see it in her face. More than worrying about her General's sanity, she was one of the few people he would consider an actual friend of Cameron's. Of course, that wasn't always the case. For some odd reason Cameron used to hate the woman with a passion. But as years passed, she'd warmed up to the woman, and they'd even be seen engaging in light banter. Some of the older folks had attributed it to Cameron's behaving less robot-like, but Derek had always had a sneaking suspicion that it had more to do with Kate finding a life partner, rather than some sort of AI evolution. _

_John leaned his head against the wall and was quiet for a long moment. Derek thought the tirade was over and sighed in relief. He took a step to leave but stopped when he heard a low whimper. _

_What he saw when he turned back around was a sight that was burned into his memory forever. General Connor, the man who nearly single-handedly led what was pathetically left of humanity against the army of machines… was crying. _

_He looked away, not wanting to watch. General Connor was a man many believed to be more machine like than even his wife. He took what was dealt to him in stride, and when everyone else was ready to give up, he stood tall and kept them going. He was a true hero that everyone, even those who didn't want to admit it, looked up to. _

_Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was human. After all, he couldn't really afford to show much of his humanity; it was part of what made him such a strong leader. But in that moment, watching his fearless leader slide down the wall to the floor, covering his face with his hands to hide the tears of despair, and shaking with quiet sobs… Derek saw the humanity that was John Connor, always hidden behind the General. _

Derek shook his head and brought himself back to the present when he remembered the sobs he was hearing wasn't a memory of General Connor, but the sounds of a broken-hearted teenager. It made his own heart hurt, and more than anything he wanted to make it stop. He hadn't known this John for very long, but he'd already found himself caring for the boy as if he were his own son. He saw so much of his brother in him, and in retrospect, a lot of his behavior in the future made more sense to him.

He sighed and rubbed his face. There was only one person who could fix this; only one person who ever could.

_Six days. Six days for a mission that should have barely taken two. He did his best to hide it, to put it aside, but everyone could see John Connor was losing his grip. _

"_General Connor? Sir?" John looked up from the bowl of mush he was eating. _

"_At ease, Private, you don't need to salute me over oatmeal. What is it?" Derek, who had been eating his own mush across from him, smirked. John was always treated with respect, and it was something he accepted with grace. But there was a time and place for everything, he always said. Apparently breakfast wasn't one of those places._

"_Sir, we've established contact with Gamma team. They were hit bad, but they're on their way in."_

_John didn't even wait for the kid to finish. He was out of his chair so fast it tipped backwards and he ran out of the room, a crowd of fellow early risers staring after him, thoroughly confused. _

_Derek set his spoon down and looked up at Andrews. "Is she with them?"_

_The younger soldier met his eyes. "We don't know."_

_Well, somehow Connor knew. There wasn't a shred of doubt in his mind, at least that showed. He jogged confidently through the tunnels, Derek not far behind him. They reached the East entrance and immediately the guards scrambled to attention and saluted their general. It was a well-rehearsed move. They were used to the Connors greeting returning teams… especially ones that were lead by their spouse._

"_How far out are they, Martin?" _

"_They were spotted an hour and a half ago by the outer sentries, sir. They should be here any minute now."_

"_What the hell took so long to tell me this?" Connor shouted._

"_Sir, with all do respect," Danielle continued. "We waited so we didn't have to stand at attention for two hours while you paced a hole through the floor."_

_A few quiet chuckles were heard around them and John Connor actually cracked a smile. "You're lucky I like you, Martin."_

_That's when the dogs started barking, and John's full attention was on the door. Soldier after soldier entered the compound greeted by their comrades. They were battered and bruised, and only about half of the team had returned. John greeted each one with gratitude and a salute, patiently waiting for the last soldier to enter._

_And when she did, Derek would swear that even the dogs stood still. The left half of her face was mostly exposed, and her eyes shone blue as they immediately tracked to John. _

_Nobody had ever seen her in this bad of shape. Sure, she'd been slightly damaged here and there, but only a damaged limb, or very little endoskeleton was ever exposed. The room fell silent except for the barking of the shepherds, as everyone stood unabashedly gawking. _

_Cameron looked rather uncomfortable with the attention. When her eyes met John's, she cast her gaze to the floor, embarrassed by having been caught in such a vulnerable… metal state by so many people. She did her best to act "normal" and to not draw so much attention to the fact that she was, indeed, a terminator. With so much endoskeleton exposed not only on her face, but on her arms and hands as well… there wasn't any hiding or pretending. Derek had actually felt sorry for her._

_John, for his part, didn't seem to notice… or care. He dropped the last soldier's hand and made his way over to his wife. With a gentleness that betrayed his masculine stoic personality, he cupped her face in his hands. He leaned in and kissed her solidly on the lips, and surprising everyone witnessing the moment, moved his mouth to kiss her softly on her exposed metal cheek._

_If anyone was disgusted by the action, nobody made a move or sound to show it. Eyes were cast downward with respect, and when John took his wife's hands in his own and began leading her back into the compound, somewhere amongst the ranks a round of applause for the returning brothers began. _

Derek stepped into the bedroom and cleared his throat. "Um, John?"

He waited for us nephew to quickly wipe his eyes and sit up. "Yeah, sorry. I'll get out of your way…"

"No! No… I just got a phone call. They both made it out. They'll be here in twenty."

A look of relief washed across John's face, but it only lasted a brief moment. "It doesn't matter," he whispered. "He took her chip. No matter what… I've lost her."

Derek's stomach clenched, and not for the first time that day he wished he had never agreed to keep him in the dark. Well, that ended here and now. "No, you didn't. There's something I need to tell you… You just have to promise not to cut my balls off for it."

* * *

"Wait… you're saying… she's… alive? She's okay? He…" John stared at his uncle, not quite sure he believed what he was hearing.

"Her chip is safely inside the triple eight. She's been there all along. The one we lost was Seth."

"But-"

Derek decided to cut him off before he could continue. "She didn't tell you for a reason. It had to be completely authentic to be believable. She knew you wouldn't stay behind, so she did what she felt she had to do to protect you. We didn't know what kind of situation we were going into. If you had known the truth, there was a chance that somehow they would have figured it all out. That could have ended badly for everyone… especially you."

John felt a comforting hand on his back but didn't turn to look at his mother. It was all a bit much to handle. One moment he thought he had lost her, the next moment… he never lost her, but…

"How long until they're here?"

Derek checked his phone. "Probably about ten minutes. But John… You need to be prepared. There was an explosion. We don't know what kind of condition they are in."

John shook his head. "We can fix her. I'll fix her. I need a moment…" He looked down at his mother and sighed.

"I'll be fine, John. Get the hell out of here, you're making me depressed."

John rolled his eyes. "Well fine, geez. I'll just leave you two alone…" He waggled his eyebrows at his mother and chuckled as he left the room.

"What the hell was that all about?" Derek asked.

Sarah just shrugged. "Hell if I know anymore. Hell if I know."

* * *

The SUV pulled all the way into the rarely used garage and the automatic door shut before the triple eight stepped out of the vehicle.

John watched from the doorway into the house and looked him… her… whatever, up and down critically. He was badly damaged. There probably wouldn't be any fixing him, especially since Weaver had decided to pull a disappearing act. John felt his stomach clench as the cyborg opened the trunk.

If he was this bad… what would Cameron's body look like? What if…

His heart seemed to stop as he watched her body appear out of the trunk. _She's all right! Oh my God, she's all right… _ He felt almost dizzy as a wave of relief crashed over him.

"John, are you all right? " The triple eight shifted Cameron's body in his arms and touched John's cheek with his free hand. John flinched away, and immediately regretted it when the machine seemingly shrugged the rejection off and walked past him without another word.

Yeah, it was totally awkward and kind of creepy… but this wasn't Seth. This was his Cameron, and she was only concerned about him. John rubbed his face and sat down on an upturned bucket.

This situation brought on a whole new line of questions. What if Cameron's body had been destroyed?

John loved Cameron. He loved her for who she was, not what she looked like. At least that's what he thought. But… what if her body had been destroyed, and she had to stay inside Seth for… forever maybe? What then?

John grimaced. He certainly would _not_ find her… him attractive. That just wasn't his thing. At all. Nuh uh. Nope. But if that was the case… would he still love her?

He shifted uncomfortably. Yeah, he would. He'd always love her. He'd do anything to protect her, no matter what body she was in. She wasn't just his lover… she was his best friend; his closest confidante. That would always be there, no matter what.

He sighed and rubbed his neck. So… it wasn't just a physical attraction thing, right? Of course not. If it was another female cyborg body instead of Seth, well… He took a moment to think about that. _You know John, I think you'd get used to it,_ he thought to himself.

He shook his head and stood up. No use worrying about it, Cameron was perfectly fine. Some questions were just best left unanswered. There were two things he knew for sure though. One, was that he was in love with Cameron for who and what she was. Two, was that he certainly wasn't now, and never would be gay.

* * *

He entered the house and found the cyborgs in the living room. Cameron's body was laid down on the couch and he knelt down, carefully looking it over.

There weren't any burn marks that he could see. Some of her hair was singed, though. _Ha! I'm not the only one who will have to get a damn haircut._ He checked the port and found it open, the cap completely missing. He looked up at Seth, er… Cameron, who was standing behind him.

"You look like shit. Well, not you um… well, that body," he said, giving the triple eight chassis another glance over.

"So you know," she said in Seth's voice. She sat in the armchair beside the couch and looked down at the floor.

"Yeah, I do. And don't give Derek a hard time about it, okay? I was… well, I was in really bad shape. I'm glad he told me. I… I thought I had lost you." He looked down at her rightful body and swallowed hard. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you're okay. But… I mean… Listen, I lo-"

"Hey John, we're gonna… oh, sorry." Derek looked back and forth between them. "I uh, we're just gonna go out and see what we can do about getting your mother some antibiotic and whatnot…" He pointed to Dani who was standing uncomfortably behind him.

"Sure Derek, that'd be great," John said. "And… thank you. For everything."

Derek wasn't one to talk much, and mushiness made him feel awkward; so he just gave his nephew a nod and led Dani out the door.

John sighed and looked back down at Cameron's body. What the hell had he been saying? Oh, yeah.

"I love you," he said, without turning to look at the cyborg in the chair beside him. "I love every part of you. And… I want to say I'm not just in love with your body, of course. I'm in love with you, for who you are… but… I uh, I'm sorry…" He finally turned to look at the triple eight. "I find it difficult to proclaim my undying love for you while I'm staring awkwardly at a man."

"Oh…" She looked back down at the floor. "So you wouldn't kiss me just because I'm not a cute young chick with a totally hot body anymore?" She pouted for good measure.

John stared at her with his mouth agape. God, was he really having this conversation with her?

"Cameron… I'm sorry… I… I don't really know how it works for you to be honest. I mean, um… well, if I was a woman, would you still be attracted to me?"

Cameron tilted her head. "I don't have a real sex drive, John. You know that. I enjoy the sensations that sex brings me, and I find your appearance pleasing to me. If you were a woman, and we developed a bond such as we have, I would perhaps find your appearance pleasing and derive pleasure from sexual acts together."

John literally face palmed. "Okay… well, it doesn't work for me like that. I can't just… change my sexual preference because my girlfriend can switch CPUs with a man."

"But I'm still me," Cameron insisted.

John groaned. "Yes, up here…" He tapped his own head. "You're still you. But the rest of you..."

"But as long as I'm in this body, John, it is me. And you said you love me for who I am."

The look on John's face was priceless. It was halfway between frustration and total disgust.

"Cameron… I do! I just-"

"I'm messing with you, John."

John blinked. "What?"

A smile crossed Cameron/Seth's face. "Thank you for explaining, but I do have a basic understanding of human sexuality. I'm messing with you."

John stared at her hard. "I see. That wasn't very funny, you know."

Cameron looked away guiltily. "I'm sorry, John. I was trying to "break the ice" between us."

John itched the stubble on his cheek. "Um, I don't really think that's quite the right idiom to use here. But I get your point." He sighed. "Can we just, um… put you back where you belong so I can properly show you how glad I am you're okay?"

She smiled and pulled out a switchblade.

* * *

John waited a little impatiently while he listened to the telltale whirring sounds of Cameron rebooting. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked up at his concerned face.

"I'm back," she said quietly.

John nodded and caressed her cheek. "So I see. How is everything?"

Cameron's eyes glowed faintly blue while she ran a diagnostic. "Damn it," she cursed, earning her two raised eyebrows from her fiancé. "I damaged my left elbow in the fight." She lifted the arm in question and attempted to bend it. They heard a metallic grinding sound, and then a sick 'pop'. "It's going to need replacement parts."

John ran his hand up the length of her arm. "Well, can we just use his parts?"

"Yes, we can," she stated. "However, we have a better option available."

He looked down at her, still laying face-up on the couch. "A better option?"

Cameron nodded. "I'll tell you later. It doesn't require immediate attention. Sarah, however, does." She attempted to sit up, but was stopped by John's hand on her chest. She looked down at it in confusion. "John?"

"My mom's fine, for the moment," he muttered. "I told you I wanted to do something, and I'm going to do it."

"Oh…" Cameron understood and a faint smile crossed her lips. "Okay then."

John returned the smile, and gently traced her lips with his index finger. "Well… first, I want to tell you that I am absolutely livid that you lied to me. That was inexcusable, and regardless of your reasons, highly unappreciated."

Cameron's smile faltered and she averted her eyes.

"Second, I want to thank you for doing everything you did… and I do mean everything… to save my mom's life. For that, I owe you my whole world."

Cameron met his gaze again and opened her mouth to speak, but a quick shake of his head stopped her.

"I'm not done yet, so shut up and let me talk. Third… I want to tell you how absolutely heart broken I was when I thought I lost you. For a moment, it felt like I had lost myself. You mean more than anything to me, no matter what your body looks like. I never felt so relieved when Derek told me the truth." He sighed and brushed a few strands of singed and dirty hair away from her face. "I love you, Cameron. And if you ever, ever scare me like that again… I'll have to kill you."

Cameron knew he was joking about killing her by the smile on his face, but where his skin touched hers, she also registered that he was being completely honest.

"You can't kill me, John," she joined in the banter. "I'm a hyper alloy combat chassis under organic tissue. You're no match for me."

John grinned. "Oh, you wanna bet?" He unexpectedly leaned forward and captured her lips. The kiss was playful at first, but quickly turned serious as John attempted to convey to her every emotion he felt over the past twelve hours.

Cameron willingly granted him access by parting her lips. Kissing John was one of her favorite things, and not just for the pleasure she received through her sensors, but because she knew John derived a great amount of pleasure from it as well.

As the kiss grew more heated, she felt his hand leave her face and slowly glide over her chest. Her own body responded to the touch, and it surprised her with the intensity. It had been a long while since they had engaged in sexual intercourse, having much more serious issues to take care of as of recent. She would have gladly continued, and knew John himself was more than willing, but she also knew that there were still many pressing issues that needed to be taken care of. She reached for John's hand and gently removed it from her breast.

"John… we have a lot to do."

John groaned and pulled away. "Yeah, I know. I just…" He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Sorry. Shit, your port isn't even closed yet." He reached for the open part of her scalp and bit his lip. "The cover is missing. Will his fit?"

Cameron nodded. "It should be sufficient for now. I'll fix it, and we can go check on Sarah."

John nodded, and briefly considered a cold shower. And then wondered if Cameron would want to join.

He smacked himself in the forehead and stood up. _Rein it in, boy. Deep breaths. God, why is she looking at me like that? Stop it! She's doing it on purpose, I know she is. Goddammit I need help. Help… yes, that would be… OH MY GOD GET YOUR HEAD ON STRAIGHT! _

John mentally berated himself as he climbed the stairs to his mother's room. He hoped whatever it was that Cameron thought they needed to take care of would be dealt with quickly, so that his own pressing matters could be taken care of.

* * *

**To clarify some things (if they were confusing)... Yes, that was Kate Brewster. No, they are not married (duh!) Remember, John skipped 8 years, so Katan, I mean uh, Kate is that much older than him. Cameron was suspicious of her at first, but once Kate found a "life partner" (I thought about making her a lesbian, but I decided to leave it open instead :p), Cameron cooled down and they gradually became friends. Kate and John are friends, nothing more. We already know from what Derek told us in previous chapters that John and Cameron are married. Of course! Jameron forever, dammit! **

**I'd also like to thank DarkDanny for beta reading through my chapter and telling me how awesome it was, and being patient and letting me finish before I beta'd his new Rampancy chapter. Yes, I did say NEW RAMPANCY CHAPTER!  
**


	18. Chapter 18

John walked back into his mom's room and sat beside her on the bed.

"Hey mom, you all right?"

Sarah opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. "Super. Is…"

John nodded. "Yeah, she's fine. She's just fixing, oh, she's right there. Never mind."

Cameron walked into the room carrying a tray with a bowl of soup and a glass of water, and headed straight over to the bed. She set the tray down on the nightstand and looked down at Sarah with her head slightly tilted. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. Is that expected?" Sarah asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Cameron deadpanned. "It's very expected." She proceeded to tug down the sheet covering Sarah to look at the wound. Sarah on the other hand, turned back to her son.

"Please, explain to me again…" She gestured toward the cyborg. "Why?"

John just gave her a faint smile and shook his head. "How does it look, Cameron?"

"Derek did an acceptable job with it. He is right, she will need antibiotics." She reached up and placed her hand on Sarah's forehead. "Your temperature is elevated, but it isn't at a dangerous level. That's a good thing. Your body is fighting the infection."

Sarah stared at her. "Are you going to tell me something I don't know, or just keep poking me all afternoon?"

Cameron stared blankly at her while she considered the question. She finally turned and reached for John's chest.

"Oww!" John winced back and covered his chest with his hands. He glared at Cameron who gazed back with a knowing look.

"No, Sarah, I'm going to fix your son who seems to have sustained a moderate to severe injury in his torso area."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at John. "Take off your shirt."

John rubbed his chest and looked back and forth between the two women. There really wasn't any point in arguing. They'd most likely end up holding him down and tearing his shirt off his body anyway. He sighed, and carefully pulled his shirt off over his head. His mother let out a low hiss, and he looked down thinking it wasn't all that bad.

He blinked. _Well, damn_. It was actually pretty bad. His entire torso was mottled and bruised.

"Jesus, John," Sarah breathed. "That looks terrible."

John rolled his eyes. "Well I was kicked by a terminator, then thrown into a wall. What do you expect?"

Cool hands were suddenly running across his skin, feeling along his back and around to his chest.

And it suddenly got awkward. Very, very awkward. Even though his chest did hurt, and he was basically just getting medically examined… To put it nicely, Cameron's touch was seriously rekindling that recent warm and tingly feeling. What was bad was that he knew damn well she knew what was going on, and was probably doing it on purpose. Really, was it necessary for her thumb to brush over his nipple while she felt the sides of his ribs? And what made it even worse, was that he was sitting right next to his mother.

"Lay down on the floor," Cameron instructed, and John just stared at her as if she spoke German. "I need to properly feel for internal damage," she explained, giving him a slight smirk, which told him she _definitely_ knew what was going on… and was probably doing it on purpose.

John sighed and slid down to the floor, allowing her to help him lay on his back. Placing her thumbs side by side along his sternum and splaying her fingers over his rib cage, she told him to take a deep breath.

"I feel no complete fractures," she announced, before moving her hands to his abdomen and continuing her examination. "I do not suspect any further internal damage. You will, however, be on bed rest. They could still be cracked, or at the very least, bruised."

John grimaced as she helped him to his feet without jarring his ribs too much. "And how long do you expect me to lay around?"

"Until I say so." She looked back at a chuckling Sarah. "You should eat. The warm soup and water will not cause your fever to increase.

Sarah nodded. "I will… thank you." Eating wasn't exactly her concern at the moment. She turned to her son. "You look disgusting," she said bluntly. "Go shower and change your clothes to something with less blood on it."

John rolled his eyes but didn't argue. He leaned down and kissed his mom on the cheek. "By the way, you look disgusting too." He turned and kissed his fiancée on the cheek as well before shuffling out of the room.

Cameron regarded Sarah curiously. "Did you want to speak to me, Sarah?" She wasn't dense enough to not realize the woman had purposely got rid of John.

"Yes, I did…" She patted the bed beside her much like she did to her son. Cameron tilted her head and, after brief hesitation, sat stiffly down beside her.

Sarah regarded the machine quietly for a moment before taking a deep breath. "You know it's not safe to stay here."

It wasn't really a question, but Cameron responded anyway. "Yes, it's dangerous."

Sarah nodded. "I want you to take John and leave. Get him out of here. I'm under the impression we don't have much time anyway. Just take him somewhere and… do what you need to do to get him ready. I realized a long time ago that that wasn't my job anymore," she finished quietly.

Cameron processed the words carefully. "That is not our decision to make." She watched the older woman's face closely, trying to read her emotion.

Sarah glanced at the door and huffed. "Well damn it, make it your decision. I thought you didn't follow his orders anymore."

"I'm not programmed to blindly follow his orders," Cameron corrected. "Nor does he order me to do anything; he asks. However, John is in charge, and I choose to follow his direction." She looked briefly down at the floor before turning her gaze back to Sarah. "I can make a suggestion, but the decision is ultimately his."

* * *

Cameron was glad John fell asleep in the seat next to her, she really didn't' want to have to field all of his inevitable questions. He had questioned her enough at home about why he had to go with her, when all he wanted to do was take a handful of pills and sleep for days. In the end she won, just like always. She did agree to the pills, though. The pain medication Derek and Dani had brought back worked almost instantly, apparently knocking him out cold. She'd have to cut back on the dosage next time.

She pulled up to the security gate and showed the man their clearance badges. The gate arm lifted and she pulled into the underground VIP parking garage, finding a rather secluded spot on the opposite side of the entrance.

She reached over and gently shook John until he mumbled groggily. "John… we're here, it's time to wake up."

She watched as he yawned and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He glanced around them and immediately knew where they were, and she could almost see a few questions forming in his head.

Before he could ask, Cameron climbed out of the car and started walking towards the door, obviously expecting John to follow her. She handed him his badge when he caught up and swiped her own to unlock the door.

They took the elevator to the bottom level and received a few nods from the Zeira Corp employees they passed in the corridor. All of them being members of the Project Babylon team; no one else was permitted on the ground level.

They passed the room John had lived in for several weeks, and Cameron took them down a back hallway, one that he'd never been down before. She finally stopped at a door three quarters of the way down and swiped her access key. The electronic lock clicked and she pushed the door open.

The lights automatically flickered on as they walked in, and John took a quick look around. It wasn't very large, more like the size of an average office. There were a couple of boxes in the corner, but closer to the far wall…_ what the hell?_ He took a few steps closer to get a better look. It was a table covered by a sheet, with a clearly defined body lying underneath. _Right. Only in my life._

"I'm just going to guess there's a terminator under there?"

"Yes… There is a terminator under the sheet," she said carefully as she stepped around the table and stared at him. Her blank terminator expression was perfectly set on her face. "This is what we will use to fix my arm."

"Oooookay..." John shrugged, wondering why she was acting so goofy. He grabbed the sheet and pulled it off in one swift motion… and fought the instinctual urge to jump. No matter how many times he saw one, the metal endoskeleton of a terminator seemingly staring back at him would always scare the shit out of him.

He felt Cameron's eyes on him and took a deep breath to relax himself. He looked over the chassis carefully, starting at the much less creepy feet. It must have been washed off after it was skinned. There weren't any traces of blood and gore on the body at all. The metal gleamed dully under the light as his eyes swept over the endoskeleton.

Cameron taught him the ins and outs of a terminator. His mother didn't know of course, it was one of those secrets they had between them. Whenever they had a chance, before she would destroy it, she'd take him out and give him lessons on how their bodies worked. It was important, she had said, in case he had ever needed to repair her… or another one.

By the metal used, he knew it wasn't an older model. She taught him that too. The size of the body didn't matter much though, what really made the model was the software, not hardware. However, this particular model seemed extremely small to be a T-888 series. Just eyeballing it, he guessed it would be shorter than him, and the frame itself would be rather petite. If he were to make an educated guess, he'd say this terminator was a female.

And that's when everything clicked into place.

Not using Seth's convenient parts, Zeira Corp, the unusual secretive behavior… The stone-cold expression on her face that he rarely ever saw anymore.

_Holy shit, _he thought to himself. _Why the hell didn't I ever…_

He looked back up to meet Cameron's eyes once again, and suddenly realized why she had brought him with her. She didn't need his help; she was programmed for self-repair. This… was a lesson. She was trying to prove a point.

Cameron watched his face closely. She was having a difficult time reading his body language, something that usually came easy to her. His face was in an expression of shock and… something else.

She was afraid it was disgust. She had debated a long time whether or not to ever show John her old body. In the end, she decided it was something he needed to see. He knew what she was, but he needed to see it. There was a human expression she thought worked well for this situation: You have to see it to believe it. When a person saw something, it became more real to them. She wanted John to completely understand, without a doubt, what she really was.

They stared at each other, neither really sure what to say. John wasn't even sure what to feel. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was weird, yes. Seeing your girlfriend's insides was weird, no matter what she was made of. He tore his eyes away from hers and back down to the endoskeleton on the table. He rubbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes.

So this was Cameron's old body. The one that didn't go through the TDE when he and Catherine jumped into the future. He never thought any more about it. Cameron had a new body, and for some reason he just forgot about this one. It made sense to keep it for situations like this. Why use another terminator's parts when essentially she could just use her own?

He opened his eyes and began studying the endo again. It was actually rather interesting to see. She was clearly built for combat, but small combat… humans. Definitely not built to fight other machines. Body size was really the only difference that he could see between her and triple eights. Other than that, her face had a clearly more feminine structure, but that applied to her whole body.

"Who did it?" he asked quietly.

If Cameron was human, she would have shifted awkwardly on her feet. "I did."

"What?" He stared at her incredulously. "You friggin skinned yourself?

"I needed to store it. The organic tissues would have eventually begun to break down and decompose," she said matter-of-factly. "It would have been… unpleasant."

"Yeah, but…" John scratched his head and sighed. "You could have asked someone else to do it. You didn't have to do it yourself, you know."

Cameron looked down at her old endo and gave him a very human shrug. "It doesn't bother me."

John shook his head and rubbed his neck. He loved her to death, but sometimes… sometimes she was just way too much.

"Well, are you going to cut open your arm so we can get this started before I pass out here on the floor? I think you were trying to kill me with those pills."

"If I was trying to kill you, I wouldn't use Codeine."

John rolled his eyes and pulled his switchblade out of his back pocket. It flicked open with a satisfying metallic swish sound. "You or me, babe?

Cameron pulled off her jacket as she walked around the table. She carelessly tossed it over the head of the endo on the table and held out her left arm.

* * *

_Oh my God why do I feel like I got hit by a truck? _ John attempted to roll over, and his memory came flooding back with a groan. _Oh yeah… I got my ass kicked by a terminator. Would have preferred the truck…_

He sighed and opened his eyes. Someone had drawn the curtains closed at some point so it was still pleasantly dark, rather than the stream of hellish sunbeams that usually blinded him in the mornings.

"Good morning."

John looked to his left and was surprised to see Cameron lying next to him. "Oh hey… what are you doing here?"

Cameron furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I'm sorry, you do not wish for me to lay with you?" She started to sit up but John grabbed her arm.

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant that I expected you to be on patrol or something. I didn't tell you to go anywhere…" He tugged her arm until she laid back down, resting her head on his shoulder carefully.

"Is this hurting you?"

"Nope, not at all." It wasn't the complete truth, but it was close enough. It didn't really make it hurt much worse. He sighed and raked his fingers through her soft hair. "Were you here all night?"

"No, I did patrol most of the night," she said quietly. "I've only been here for thirty seven minutes. I wanted to be here when you woke up."

"Oh…" John smiled. "Well, waking up to you is always a pleasant experience."

Cameron tilted her head to look up at him. "I needed to talk to you."

"Aaaand… there it went." John sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Before you start, let me say this..." He held his hand up when she opened her mouth to speak. "I know, I know, it's important, but trust me, okay?" When she closed her mouth obediently he gave her a quick peck on the forehead before continuing. "Thank you. Now… yes, I am aware that it is no longer safe to live here. Yes, I am aware, and fully agree, that we need to move as soon as possible. Yes, I am aware, and fully understand, my mom is in no condition to move with us at the moment, and she is going to have to stay here. That means you and I, and most certainly the munchkin, will be going alone." He paused to let everything he said sink in, not that her advanced CPU really needed the time… it was more for dramatic effect. "Did I miss anything?"

Cameron lifted herself up on her arm so she could look down at him. "No, you didn't miss anything. How did you know?"

John rolled his eyes. "I'm not as dumb as people seem to think I am."

"I didn't say…"

"No, you didn't," he interrupted. "I didn't mean that to sound like a dick, either. It's just that… you know, I wish people would give me a little more credit. Even you."

His blunt statement made her guiltily drop her gaze to his chest, but John wasn't having any of it. He lifted his hand to her chin and waited patiently for her to look back at him. "Did you even notice I had already packed up all my clothes?" He watched her eyes immediately track to their closet. "I would have packed yours, but I got intimidated by all the lacy things."

She felt him chuckle beside her and gave him a confused look. "You like the lacy things."

John's smile turned into a grin. "Damn right I do… when you're wearing them. In fact…" He hooked his finger into the collar of her shirt and peeked down her chest. "Oh, is that the red one? You know it's my favorite."

Cameron's smile was slow, but genuine. She was still learning about her emotions and how to handle them, but there were certain things that now came much more naturally to her. She liked when John complimented her. She liked when she could make him smile and even… turn him on. She also liked when he touched her. Not just when he _really_ touched her, but even the small simple touches like playing with her hair, or just tapping her arm to get her attention.

Of course… _really_ touching her was the best, and where his hand had currently found his way under her shirt, her sensors were pretty much exploding. Well, figuratively speaking of course. She wouldn't allow him to touch her if they could actually explode; that would be a serious risk to his safety.

She felt his hand slide up to her breast, and through a series of immediate pleasure responses, her nipple harden in his palm.

"John… you're hurt."

"And?" He began trying to pull her on top of him, but she didn't budge.

"We should not… this could hurt you more."

John groaned. "Okay, well what if I just let you do all the work?" He pulled more insistently, and smirked when she finally acquiesced and carefully placed herself over him, doing her best to keep as much of her weight off of him as possible.

"This is not a good idea, John Connor."

"And that doesn't sound like a real complaint." He tucked her cascading hair behind her ears and smiled. "Think of it this way… endorphins are the body's natural pain killers. It won't hurt much at all. And you know damn well you'll be monitoring me the whole time anyway, so I promise I won't try to lie and pretend to be fine just to get a little action."

His logic was sound. Well, not really, but it was good enough. He was likely to continue to argue until she all but left the room. If she did that though, he was likely to be moody and unpleasant the rest of the day. Besides… John was in charge, after all.

"Okay," she finally agreed. "But you have to promise."

"I already promised," he growled in frustration as he attempted to pull off her shirt.

She allowed him the shirt and raised her arms to make it easier. "No… promise me I'll do all the work."

John had a hard time keeping eye contact, and finally gave up and settled on her red-lace covered breasts. "Uh… yeah sure…" He swallowed hard. "Not a problem, Cam."

That earned him a full-fledged smile just before she leaned down to kiss him deeply.

Kissing John was one of the things she loved most. She thoroughly enjoyed the sensations of their lips and tongues dancing together, and John's hands on her now naked breasts brought her. Of course, as the kiss became more heated… so did John. When his hands glided down her body and gripped her hips, she finally pulled away.

She was taking charge now; and John wasn't going to complain one bit.

* * *

"Stop squirming."

"I can't help it, it tickles!"

"You're such a girl, Connor."

"Hey! I'm injured here, you know, from trying to save your ass!"

They heard a shout from upstairs. "HEY! KNOCK IT OFF DOWN THERE BEFORE YOU MAKE ME GET UP AND KICK ALL OF YOUR ASSES!"

Four sets of eyes stared up at the ceiling. Derek set his glass of juice down quietly. "Glad it wasn't me this time."

"REESE! I HEARD THAT!"

Nobody had the guts to laugh. Between the medication, the fever, the pain, and being bedridden, Sarah Connor had turned into a scary dragon.

The other adults were hiding in the kitchen. Cameron was wrapping John's chest with gauze dipped in some sort of mentholated crap she claimed would help the pain. Every once in a while her hand would brush against a sensitive spot, making him squirm in his seat.

"Hold here so I can tape." John did as he was directed, eager to put his shirt on in hopes the strong smell of the poultice would be covered somewhat. "There, you're finished. I'm going to help Savannah pack. Eat your oatmeal."

John stared at the bowl of mush in disgust. He looked across the table at Danielle who was eating the last bowl of Cap'n Crunch. She noticed him eyeing it up and pulled it closer to her.

"Don't even think about it."

John raised an eyebrow. "But I'm the General, don't I get dibs on the better food?"

"Not for another ten years or so."

John sighed and picked up his spoon. Unlike the oatmeal his mom used to make, it wasn't thick like glue. It had a curious cinnamon scent, and when he hesitantly took a small bite, he was surprised to taste not only cinnamon, but a healthy amount of butter and brown sugar.

"Hmm… this ain't too bad, I guess. Don't tell her I said that, though. She'll make me eat this crap everyday."

"Mmm… fiber," Derek chuckled. "I gotta finish getting this list of supplies together that Cameron gave me before she gives me another one of those death glares." He clapped John on the shoulder before leaving him alone with Dani. And inevitably an awkward silence.

They ate their respective breakfasts in silence until John couldn't take it anymore. He pushed his bowl aside and took a breath. "Listen… Dani… I want to thank you for-"

"Don't," she interrupted. "Just… don't." Her voice trailed off at the end and she stared at her cereal milk. "It was my fault they found you. I told them-"

This time it was John's turn to interrupt. "It's not your fault. Trust me. They would have eventually found us either way. They always do…" He grabbed his bowl and began playing with the now cooled oatmeal. "The fact that you held them off for three weeks is commendable. But regardless, everything you did for my mom…" He paused, trying to find the right words. "She means the… she's… I don't know what I would have done if I lost her. I owe you more than you know."

Dani shook her head and spoke quietly. "It's what I do. You don't owe me anything."

* * *

John knocked on his mother's bedroom doorframe. "Hey mom… is it safe to come in, or are you still breathing fire?"

Sarah turned her head and narrowed her eyes. "Are you sassing me? Boy do you know how many hours I was in labor with you? In the jungle? Alone?"

John rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed beside her. "You're probably going to tell me some obscene number like thirty five or something, right?"

"Seventeen!" Sarah shook her head and let out a mock exasperated sigh. "Kids! No respect for their mothers…"

"All right all right, we'll go on the Maury show and you can tell the world all about our convoluted family."

Sarah chuckled. "Convoluted doesn't even begin to describe us." She looked him up and down and sighed. "So you're all ready to go, huh? Savannah and Cameron were just in here. The poor girl is pretty upset about having to leave her friend."

John nodded. "Yeah, I know. I feel terrible, but… nothing we can do. And Cameron… is starting to get impatient. She's fidgeting."

"Oh dear," Sarah said seriously. "Cameron fidgeting… best not keep her waiting."

"Yeah, I know right?" John chuckled uneasily. "She'll be fine for a few more minutes. It's not like she's going to come up and carry me out to the van."

"I don't know, she might."

John secretly agreed. "Anyway… are you sure you're going to be all right?"

"Oh my God, John," Sarah groaned. "I'm a big girl. I think I'll survive just fine. Besides, Derek and Dani are staying with me."

"I know…" John's eyes got wide. "That's kind of what I'm afraid of."

"Oh…" she smacked him on the arm, but couldn't stop her smile. "I'll be fine. It's not like it's forever or anything, right? Just until I get better and things settle down."

John was gazing out the window, not really looking at anything in particular. "It better not be," he said quietly, before looking back down at his mom. "Call me a big baby, but I haven't lived without my mommy since I was ten."

Sarah was doing her best not to let the tears that were threatening to spill over escape. "I know… think how I feel. But hey, just… imagine this as you going off to college. It's about that time, right? You're just lucky. You won't get stuck in a tiny dorm room with some guy you hate. Instead, you get the sorority queen."

John laughed and shook his head. "Wow that's… yeah. Definitely not Cameron, but okay. College. Got it. I'll become a fan of some state university and start wearing their clothes or something."

"That's the spirit! See? We can do this."

"Yeah…" John picked up her hand. "We can do this."

They were silent for a few long moments before John spoke again. "Well… I guess I should get going."

"Please. I don't want to witness her carrying you down the stairs." She sat up and pulled her son into her arms. "Be safe. Please," she pleaded, a hint of what seemed like panic in her voice.

"I will, mom. I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

Sarah slowly hobbled over to her bedroom window that looked down over the driveway. Derek and Dani were saying their goodbyes, but with the window closed she couldn't hear what they were saying. John gave his uncle one last hug before climbing into the passenger seat of the van. She watched as they pulled out of the driveway, drove down the street and quickly out of sight.

She didn't know how long she stood there staring. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. The dull throbbing in her leg eventually snapped her out of it, and she slowly limped back to her bed as she wiped the moisture from her cheeks.

* * *

"Are you ready, John?"

He looked over at Cameron in the driver's seat. "Do I have a choice?"

* * *

**_THE END... FOR NOW._**

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* * *

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**Well... surprise right? This is the end of That Which We Call Fate. Before you panic and blow up my inbox... don't worry, the story will continue with a third part. ****Stay tuned... I haven't titled part 3 yet. I'll add a 'chapter 19' with the information in a short while. There shouldn't be that long of a wait. I'm not taking a hiatus from writing.**

**Also, thanks to M1919 for supplying me with the Cameron skinning herself idea! And to DarkDanny for putting up with my Xena-like attitude, well, pretty much everyday :)**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Readers who don't write really don't know just how important it is for authors to get feedback, good and bad.  
**


	19. Chapter 19

This is not a chapter.

This is the update I promised in chapter 18 with the title for the third installment of the series. Coming soon…

Be Not Afraid of Greatness.

Synopsis: With Sarah injured, John and Cameron are on their own to continue their preparations for Judgment Day. John learns he has a lot more to learn than he ever imagined, and finally begins growing into his own man. Savannah learns a few things herself and proves she's growing up, and that a nine year old can handle a lot more than expected.

**Also, for anyone interested, you can find me on twitter as Elusive_Sanity.**


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